
-1.- , , - V .V V- J <:::^yW 

.no \ 




- r - 




THE PASSION OF 
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 




I 

i 

i 

'1 

i 

i 

j 

I 



I 



T 



/ 




Fill mi — Mater mea 



THE PASSION 

OF 

0;UR LORD JESUS CHRIST 



ACCORDING TO THE REVELATIONS OF 
BLESSED ANNA CATHERINE EMMERICH 



PRECEDED BY A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY 
OF THIS GREAT SERVANT OF GOD 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY A PRIEST 
OF THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT 



With Ecclesiastical Approbation 



Printed and Published by the 

BENEDICTINE CONVENT OF PERPETUAL ADORATION 
CLYDE, MO. 



Nihil Obstat 

FROWINUS 

Abbas Neo-Angelo Montanus 



Imprimatur 

^ MARITIUS 

Episcopus San&i Josephi 



Copyright, 1914, by Benedidtine Convent, Clyde, Mo. 

M -6 I9i4 



TO MARY 

THE MOTHER OF SORROWS 

this translation of the Dolorous Passion 
of her Beloved Son is offered 
in loving devotion 



This tribute of love we lay at thy feet, 
O Virgin of virgins, O Mary most sweet. 

(Little Office of the Immaculate Conception.) 



Is there one who would not weep, 
Whelmed in miseries so deep, 
Christ's dear Mother to behold ? 

Can the human heart rehrain 
From partaking in her pain, 
In that Mother's pain untold ? 

{Stahat Mater.) 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 

''The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ accord- 
ing to the Revelations of Blessed Anna Catherine 
Emmerich" is a book that may justly be called a 
world's book. It is destined for all Christian peo- 
ple, and deserves to be translated into every 
language. 

With a clearness that fills the soul with over- 
whelming emotion, the magnitude and intensity of 
the sufferings of Jesus Christ and the compassion 
of His Blessed Mother are placed before our eyes. 
No human heart can be so hardened as not to be 
deeply moved to compassion in reading this book 
and meditating on its contents. These revelations 
of the Passion of Christ were made to a saintly 
person, who received the impressions of the five 
holy wounds in her own body, who suffered inex- 
pressibly with Christ, to such a degree, indeed, 
that when Our Lord showed her His agony, He 
placed His hand compassionately on her breast 
and said : ''No one has yet seen all this, and terror 
would cleave thy heart asunder, did I not hold it 
together." 



Translator's Preface. 



In translating this book into English, we have 
adhered closely to the oldest text of the German 
original, and have eliminated everything that might 
not be interesting to the reader, or that might 
have an annojring effect. 

We wish to remsu'k, that private revelations, 
according to the decrees of Pope Urban VIII. in the 
years 1634 and 1641, in so far as the Church has 
not decided upon them, claim only human credence. 

Go forth, then, devout and holy book, go forth 
into the Catholic world. Enter into Christian 
homes and effect untold good for the salvation of 
many. 

Praised be Jesus Christ! 

Feast of the Sacred Heart, 1913. 
Clyde, Mo. 

Benedictine Father. 



8 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Translator's Preface ..... 7 

Introduction . . . . . . 11 

Short Sketch of the Wonderful Life of Anna Catherine 

Emmerich ...... 15 

THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 

The Chalice Used at the Lait Supper . . 57 

The Lait Supper ...... 61 

The Washing of the Feet . . . . 68 

In^itution of the Blessed Sacrsunent ... 72 

Private In^trudtions and Consecration ... 77 

Jesus in the Garden of Olives .... 82 

Our Lord Made Captive .... 128 

Jesus before Annas . . . . . 154 

Jesus before Caiphas . . . • . 161 

Jesus in the Dungeon . . . . . 185 

The Morning Trial . . . . . 139 

Jesus is Led to Pilate . . . . . 196 

Jesus before Pilate ..... 200 

Jesus before Herod . . . . . 212 

From Herod to Pilate . . . . . 216 

The Scourging . . . . . 221 

The Crown of Thorns ..... 232 

Ecce Homo! Behold the Man .... 235 



Contents. 



PAGE 



Jesus Condemned to Death .... 240 

Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary . . . 246 

Jesus on Mount Calvary . . . . 261 

Jesus on the Cross . . . . . 276 

Death of Jesus ...... 294 

The Descent from the Cross .... 306 

Our Lord's Burial . . . . . 317 

Another Good Friday Scene . . . . 319 

The Day before the Resurredlion . . . 322 

Our Lord's Resurredlion .... 333 

THE FOUR PASSION GOSPELS 

Gospel According to St. Matthew . . . 339 

Gospel According to St. Mark . . . . 352 

Gospel According to St. Luke . . . . 362 

Gospel According to St. John .... 373 



10 



INTRODUCTION 



The Value of Meditating on the 
Passion of Jesus Christ. 

OF all forms of Catholic devotion the devotion 
to the Passion of Our Lord and Savior is the 
mo^ ancient, the mo^ venerable, the mo^ universal. 
Jesus Himself has written the remembrance of His 
Pcission deep into the hearts of His faithful. What 
else is Holy Mass but the unbloody renewal of His 
Psission ? What else Holy Communion but a memo- 
rial of His Passion ? And when, in order to atone for 
our chilling coldness tow^ards the Sacrament of Love, 
for our forgetfulness and ingratitude towards Our 
Lord's redeeming Death — when for this purpose 
fervent souls burn with love for the Heart of Jesus, 
what else do they do than sink their memories and 
aff e<$lions into the depths of our Savior's Passion ? 

How deep, think you, were the wounds of Jesus 
chiseled into the Heart of Mary? From His death 
to her own, so it was revealed to many favored souls. 
His entire Passion was reenacted in her every week. 
Twas the Dolorous Mother who firit pradticed the 
Way of the Cross. 

The Apo^les, too, lived and breathed in the 
my^ery of the Passion and Death of their Ma^er. 
Think of St Andrew, who hung two days upon his 

11 



Introdudlion. 



beloved cross, or of St. Peter, who in humble love for 
his Lord was crucified head downwards. 

To realize how Wrongly Holy Mother Church 
desires her children to think over and over again 
upon the Passion of Jesus, we need but glance at the 
many fea^s she has in^ituted in honor of this mys- 
tery. How overpowering are the ceremonies of Holy 
Week, particularly the Lamentations ! How beautiful 
and touching the fea^ of the Finding and the Exal- 
tation of the Cross ! 

No wonder, then, that the saints of all ages have 
been unable to tear themselves away from the Cross. 
Out of thousands of te^imonies to be found in their 
writings, let us here consider a few brief passages : 

Saint Bonaventure : "Let him who desires to at- 
tain union with God keep the eyes of his soul ever 
fixed on Him who hangs dying on the Cross. 'Tis 
from those wounds of the Savior that man draws 
power to suffer, not with patience merely but with 
joy." 

"Nothing so promotes our salvation as daily to 
contemplate the excessive pain endured by the God- 
Man for love of us. The marks on His body wound 
even the hardeit hearts and inflame even the mo^ 
zealous souls." 

"If thou, O man, would^ climb from one virtue 
to another, if thou would^ lead a perfect life, then 
contemplate daily on the Passion of Chri^. Nothing 
else can drive the soul so powerfully to holiness. By 
frequent experience I have learned that when we 
devoutly think of the Passion of our Lord all devils 
are terrified and put to flight." 
12 



Value of Meditating on the Passion of ChriSl. 



St Alphonsus of Liguori : "A soul that believes 
in the Passion of Jesus Chri^ and frequently thinks 
thereon, will find it impossible to go on offending 
her Savior. Rather, she will have to begin to love 
Him, yea, she will even, in the holy sense of the word, 
have to become foolish for love, in beholding a God 
become foolish for love of her." 

"Meditation is the blessed hearth where burns 
the precious fire of divine love. Daily consider and 
contemplate the Passion of Chri^, and when thy heart 
begins in turn to burn with love, then pray and med- 
itate ^ill more." 

"Souls that are tortured by the devil and trem- 
bling for their eternal salvation will feel great conso- 
lation in withdrawing their eyes from the outward 
world and fixing them on the Cross where Jesus hangs 
bleeding from every wound. The sight of the cruci- 
fied One drives from our soul all desires for the goods 
of this world. Down from the Cross where Jesus 
hangs on high there floats a heavenly atmosphere that 
makes us forget all that is earthly, that inflames us 
with a holy desire to love nothing but Jesus alone, 
who in love laid down His life for us." 

"Oh how devoutly and readily will he obey the 
voice of God who frequently remembers how much 
Jesus Chri^ has done for love of us ! How continu- 
ously and decisively will he advance in virtue !" 

St Augu§line : "Nothing is more salutary than 
daily to recall how much the God-Man has done for 
us." 

"Brethren, let us look upon our crucified Jesus 
in order to be healed of our sins." 

13 



Introdudtion. 



"As often as I am attacked I seek refuge in the 
wounds of Jesus, I fly into the heart of the mercies of 
my Lord. Chri^ died for me — this is my sweet con- 
solation when suffering weighs mo^ heavy. All my 
hope re^ on the death of Chri^." 

"A single tear shed in memory of the Passion of 
Chriit outbaleinces a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, or a 
year's iaiSt on bread and water." 

St Bernard: "Nothing is better suited to heal 
the wounds of conscience, to purify and perfedt the 
soul, than continued contemplation of the wounds of 
Chri^." 

"Contemplation of Our Lord's sufferings is what 
I ilyle wisdom; in them I find the riches of salvation 
and the fulness of merit; from them I dip the draughts, 
now of salutary bitterness, now of sweete^ conso- 
lation." 

Following of Chri§l : "Do^ thou wish to learn 
the love of Jesus, to cleanse thy soul from all its spots 
and adorn it with all virtues, to win a glorious vidtory 
from the enemies of thy salvation, to enjoy sweet 
consolation in the mid^ of suffering and pain, to 
make great progress in prayer, to obtain final perse- 
verance, to die a blessed death and reign forever in 
Heaven — then contemplate diligently the Passion 
and Death of Our Divine Redeemer." 



14 



A Sketch of the Wonderful Life 
of the Augustinian Nun 
Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

IN the province of Westphalia in North-Weilern 
Germany there is a little town called Coesfeld. 
About a 150 years ago there lived near this town a 
poor but devout and God-fearing peasEuit family by 
the name of Emmerich. On September 8, 1774, 
God rejoiced their hecurts by sending them a little 
baby to w^hom in Baptism they gave the name of 
Anna Catherine. 

In later life Anna Catherine had beautiful words 
to say of her father : "My father was very ju^ and 
pious, grave in disposition and yet cheerful. He was 
very poor, and could support his family only by con- 
slant care and toil, yet he was never anxious or wor- 
ried. With childlike confidence he threw all his care 
on iGod, and did his work like a faithful servant, 
v/ithout fear and without avarice. 

"His ^ong inner life revealed itself in simple 
beautiful words and maxims about God and God's 
world. Very early he insi^ed I mu^ learn the bless- 
ing of labor, and while yet a child I accompanied 
him in the early morning to the field. When the sun 

15 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



rose, he would take off his hat, and pray, and speak 
of the good God who lets His sun rise up above us so 
beautifully. Often, too, he would remark how ugly 
a thing it is to lie abed till the sun shines in upon the 
sleeper — home and family were often ruined thereby. 
*Look* he would say again, *the dew is ^ill fresh, no 
one has yet passed through it. We are the fir^, and 
if we but pray devoutly we can consecrate our field 
and the country round to God. How beautiful it is 
to go through the fir^ ^ill untouched dew! The 
blessing of God is ^ill fresh upon it, no sin has yet 
been done in the fields, no evil has yet been spoken. 
— See there, isn't that beautiful ! There is Coesfeld, 
there is the church, we can look towards the Blessed 
Sacrament and adore our Lord and God. And He 
sees us too, and blesses all we do.' When the bell 
rang for Mass he would take off his hat to pray, say- 
ing: *Now let us hear Mass. The prie^ is at the 
Gloria — at the Sand;us — now we mu^ say this 
prayer — now we mu^ bless ourselves.' 

"Again he would say : *How wonderful are these 
blessings of God on which we live ! Look at this 
little seed in the ground. There it lies, and out of 
the one grain rises a big ^alk with a hundred grains ! 
Surely, it is wonderful ! 

"After dinner on Sunday he would repeat to us 
what the prieil had said in the sermon, and explain 
to us all hard points, all so devoutly and naturally 
that we loved to li^en. Sometimes again, he would 
read for us the explanation of the Gospel." 

Anna's mother, like her father, w£is filled with 
the spirit of prayer, and looked upon her hard lot and 
16 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

unceasing toil as blessings of God. Her con^ant 
thought was to come at length before God with the 
conscience of a faithful housekeeper. "Dear good 
God," she would often pray, "^rike as hard as Thou 
wilt, only keep me patient." 

Needless to say, the life of these good parents 
was governed by the laws of God and His Church. 
Spite of poverty, this quiet home was rich in content- 
ment and happiness, finding its special joy and con- 
solation in its converse with God, both in daily pray- 
er and in the yearly round of the great fe^ivals of the 
Church .... 

In little Catherine's life God's wonders began at 
her Baptism. While being baptized she saw the 
Infant Jesus present in the arms of Mary, and was es- 
poused to him by a ring which he gave her. We 
mu^ look upon this wonderful event, at the very 
threshold of life as her sign of salvation, her pledge of 
mo^ extraordinary graces ^ill to come, and her call- 
ing to the mo^ perfedl imitation of Jesus suffering 
for His Church. Likewise at her Baptism she felt the 
Presence of God in the Mo^ Blessed Sacrament, saw 
present her guardian angel, her two patrons, St. Anna 
and St. Catherine, saw the relics in the church sur- 
rounded by light, and the Saints themselves appear- 
ing above their relics. 

Very early, long before other children attain the 
use of reason, the Holy Spirit roused the heart of this 
blessed child to a<fts of faith, hope and charity. Con- 
sciously she offered her soul to God, prote^ing she 
would serve Him alone and keep unsullied her bap- 
tismal innocence. Round her little hut white doves 

17 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

were sometimes seen, though no one in the neighbor- 
hood possessed them or knew whence they came. 
Her air of holiness, her winsome ways, her natural 
and supernatural attractiveness, made the little one a 
treasure to parents and neighbors. 

Very soon the inner development of her soul be- 
gan to manife^ itself in outward adts of reverence for 
God. Her teacher and guide, both in the hidden 
wonders of her interior life and in the regulation of 
her exterior life, was her guardian angel, who contin- 
ued this office faithfully throughout her v/hole life. 

The following in^ance will serve to show how 
^rong was her love of God and her neighbor even 
before she reached her seventh year. In the night, 
after her parents had gone to sleep, little Catherine 
would ^eal from her bed and begin to pray v/ith her 
angel. Her prayer la^ed two or three hours, some- 
times even till the dawn of morning. She loved to 
pray in the open air beneath the bending heavens. 
She generally went to a neighboring field, that lay 
higher than the surrounding country, as on it she felt 
herself nearer to God than she did when down in the 
valley. And there she knelt, her arms extended, and 
her eyes fixed on the church in Coesfeld. We mu^ 
not imagine the little one found it easy thus to inter- 
rupt Iher night's re^. Weak nature prote^ed loudly 
as she drew it onwards from one degree of perfection 
to another. Yet painful as was the battle the brave 
child never faltered. However much nature trem- 
bled, she rose promptly when her angel called. 

In daily vision God showed her for whom to 
pray. Souls impatient in sickness, disconsolate in 
18 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

prison, unprepared on their deathbed, people over- 
whelmed by want and misery, tottering in demger of 
soul or body, lo^ on land or shipwreck at sea — these 
were daily before her eyes, the daily obje<5ls of her 
prayers. "Even as a child," she said in later years, 
"I prayed less for myself than for others, begging God 
to let no sin be done, no soul be lo^. And the more 
I got from God, the more I asked. God owns all we 
can wish for, so I thought, and is glad to give us all 
we can ask for." 

Self-denial went hand in hand with prayer. How 
often did she bring some dear treasure of childhood 
as a sacrifice to be laid on the little altar in the corner ! 
Often did her angel speak of the value of renunciation, 
a pradlice which could not be replaced by any other. 
At table her mortification was conllant and heroic. 
She ever chose what was woril, and ate so little that 
people wondered how she could live. "1 give it to 
Thee, O God," was her prayer, "give it to the poor, 
to those who need it mo^." 

This early begun and long continued self-denial 
gave her perfedl control over sensuality, and her soul 
was never darkened, even in thought, with the slight- 
est shade of impurity. 

Equally ^rong was her love for her neighbor. 
Her sympathy for pain of soul or body drove her to 
extraordinary deeds of charity. Constantly she was 
coaxing her parents for permission to share all that 
she had, articles of clothing, for example, with those 
who were in need. "I'll run home and get you some 
bread," she would cry out when she saw some poor 
man coming near her hut. Her good mother did 

19 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

not hinder her, but was pleased with her charity. 

For the Poor Souls she had special love and 
sympathy. They were con^ant objedls of her prayers ! 
and works. Often they drew near, as she knelt in ' 
lonely midnight prayer or wandered in the early ] 
morning to Mass in Coesfeld. She saw them under ' 
the form of little flames, or of shining pearls in ! 
the mid^ of dark-burning fire, and the light from 
these luminous shapes made her path bright through \ 
the darkness. Her angel even led her into Purgatory ! 
and let her see the immense sufferings of the Poor i 
Souls. Often after earned burning prayer for them | 
she would hear the words: "I thank thee, I thank 
thee." 

When asked in later years how she came even \ 
as child to pray and labor so much for others. Blessed j 
Catherine would answer : "I cannot say who taught 
me to adl thus, but sympathy naturally has this result. ! 
I always felt that we are one body in Chri^ Jesus, and 
the ills of my neighbor hurt me as much as pains in 
my own fingers. So from my earlier childhood I | 
used to beg God to let me help others by bearing 
their sickness of body or the punishment due to their 
sin. I besought little Jesus to help me, and soon I 
had sufferings in abundance." 

Marvels of Catherine's Childhood. \ 

The little one's conversation was in Heaven. In ; 
one pidlure after another God showed her in heavenly j 
clearness the truths of Faith. The gift of contem- 
plation had been infused into her soul at Baptism, j 
20 i 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

The holy deeds and sacred my^eries, which other 
children learn in Bible Hi^ory and the Catechism, 
were made known to Catherine in the light of her own 
soul. Twas in the Old Te^ament that the Holy 
Spirit mo^ often led her as child, while in later years 
He opened to her the full hi^ory of Jesus, the Apo^les 
and the early Church. She gazed on Mary, heard 
how she spoke, saw her at work, could even describe 
her garments. Each year, on the return of Advent, 
she accompanied Our Lady and St. Joseph from 
Neizareth to Bethlehem, adored the Infant Jesus in 
the ^able, and so on through all the holy seasons. 

Little Catherine had no idea that other children 
did not possess the wonderful light which she enjoyed. 
In the mo^ natural way possible she would tell what 
she saw to her parents, brothers and sixers, who 
would of course be ciitonished and ask her in what 
book she had read all these wonderful things. In 
school on one occasion a que^ion was put to her in 
Catechism class. She answered it according to her 
inner light, whereat the children laughed, and the 
ma^er warned her earne^ly not to imagine such 
things. So little by little she grew silent on these 
matters, thinking it mu^ not be quite right to speak 
of them. Still she did not see einything extraordinary 
in them, and went on as usual to gaze upon the pict- 
ures in her soul. On finding some pidtures in her 
Bible Hi^ory, she began to look upon these inner 
visions as her own big pid:ure-album. 

Another favor granted her in these early years 
wcis the personal apparition of Our Savior, Our Lady, 
her guardian angel and various other saints. These 

21 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

apparitions, too, she found so natural that she thought 
all Chri^ians enjoyed them. 

The apparitions of Jesus were meant to prepare 
Catherine for her great life-work of imitating Him in 
suffering for the salvation of mankind. 

He would appear as the Boy laden with the Cross 
and look at her in silence. Her soul would melt at 
His patience, and she would burden her tender frame 
with a heavy piece of wood and bear it along amid 
words of prayers as long as she was able. Or she 
saw Him weep over the insults heaped on Him by 
bold, shameless children, and the sight drove her to 
seek amid nettles and thorns for innocent tortures 
wherewith to satisfy God*s anger. Or He would come 
when she was wandering from one station to another 
and give her His own Cross to carry. 

She likewise enjoyed the visible presence of her 
guardian angel. This privilege is found over and 
over again in the lives of those who are called to walk 
extraordinary ways. When her angel approached, she 
would fir^ behold a luminous splendor, out of which 
would come forth the shining angelic form, transpar- 
ent, and clothed in a prie^ly garb of dsizzling white. 

The continuous light of contemplation that illu- 
mined her mind, the unbroken conversation of her 
heart with Jesus and the Saints, that splendor from 
the world beyond wherein she beheld her angel, the 
penetrating gaze of that angel into the depths of her 
spirit — all this inflamed the child with an all-sur- 
passing desire for holiness of body and soul, enkindled 
in her such a longing for God that nothing created 
could loosen the grip wherewith she clung to her God. 
22 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



But ju^ as she found a guide in her angel, so in 
Satan she had, even in earlier youth, a bitter enemy. 
The frequent dangers to life which the child underwent 
were, so it was revealed to her, brought about by the 
wiles of Satan, who would attack her in unguarded 
moments, when she had forgotten the Presence of 
God or had fallen into some slight fault. "We mu^," 
she would say, "always be thankful children of God. 
We muil cry out for His help, and never leave His 
sight; for the enemy of our salvation is ever on the 
watch to de^roy us." To ruin her spiritually, to keep 
her back from the road of perfection, was above all 
Satzui's endeavor. He not merely filled her soul with 
frightful visions, he even seized and maltreated her 
bodily, and sent hideous shapes of evil to mole^ and 
terrify the little girl that dared spend the lonely night 
in prayer. An involuntary shudder these attacks could 
cause her, yet she never lo^ her self-control. Rather, 
she went on to pray with greater fervor till the enemy 
was forced to quit the field. "Unhappy wretch!" 
she would address him, "thou hait no part in me. 
My Lord and my God does not abandon me : He is 
Wronger than all enemies." 

When the Blessed Sacrament was carried to 
some peasant in the neighborhood, Catherine, even 
though she could not see the prie^, knew that her 
Lord was passing, recommended her cows to her 
angel, and ran to adore the Ho^. From the blessing 
of a prie^ she would feel new ^rength breaming 
sensibly into her being. The tones of church bells 
seemed to her to be blissful rays of light, that as far 
as they reached drove back the powers of evil. Latin 

23 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



the un^died child underwood, when she heard it 
in church service or elsewhere. From all consecrated 
objects and places she felt new ^rength and calmness 
flow into her soul. But all that was evil or accursed 
filled her with horror and drove her to make rep- 
aration. 

Her First Confession and Communion. 

She was seven years old when she made her first 
Confession. She had prepared herself with the great- 
er care, and was above all determined not to be 
blinded by self-love but to reveal her faults fully. 
Although she had never sullied her baptismal inno- 
cence, and had, from the fir^ waking of reason, 
fa^ened all her powers, her thoughts and her inclina- 
tions upon Him who is the Supreme Good and La^ 
End, ^ill she was so overwhelmed with sorrow and 
humility that she broke out into loud weeping and 
had to be carried out of the confessional. 

At the age of twelve she received Fir^ Holy 
Communion. She had never ceased to be Wrongly 
attracted by the Blessed Sacrament, and had in vision 
been inilrudled in its greatness, and had in her 
guardian angel a living example of the reverence due 
to this great My^ery. When she prayed she was 
accu^omed to turn to some quarter of the horizon 
where she knew there was a Tabernacle. From ear- 
lie^ childhood on she had been wont to receive 
spiritually. Now that she was to receive really Our 
Lord's Body she seemed to herself unable to prepare 
herself sufficiently. After receiving she besought God 
to do with her as He pleased, to accept her as a holo- 
24 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

cau^ for His glory and the salvation of her neighbor. 

On the same occasion she had a vision, wherein 
she saw herself and St. Cecilia receiving Communion 
with the early martyrs. Like these she felt Wrongly 
inflamed to endure tortures for the Church, and God 
accepted her offer. 

She was to be a martyr : A martyr by reason of 
her eagerness for penance, of the many wearinesses 
of life, of her long battle again^ the world; by 
reason, later on, of her unceasing pains of soul and 
body, her public ignominy and persecution; by rea- 
son, finally, of the sacred ^igmata that turned her 
body into an image of Jesus on the Cross. From 
that happy day onwards the eye of her soul was ever 
open to the great evils that afflidted the Church in 
her time, and that vision was ever accompanied by 
the sacrifice of herself to atone for those evils. 

In the morning before her second Communion 
Catherine found in her trunk a great number of 
delicate and wonderful particles of bread, evidently 
intended to be tokens of the rich blessings she was 
henceforth to reap from her newly-given supernatural 
Soul-food. 

From now on each Sunday and fe^ival saw her 
enter anew into union with her high and holy Bride- 
groom, and each renewal fanned ^ill brighter the 
longing that inflamed her to make perfedl the inward 
sacrifice by the outward, to embrace the ^ern life 
of a nun and thus become a holocau^ on the altar 
of love for God and man. 

This same year, the twelfth in her life, she enter- 
ed as the servant into the house of the peasant on 

25 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



whose {arm her own family lived, and who also bore 
the name of Emmerich. Her duties were to watch 
the cows in the meadows, and perform other little 
tasks in the fields or in the house. Chri^ian obedi- 
ence, the soul of all she did, made her a modeit, 
willing, diligent handmaid, full of love and kindness 
for others. If her miilress, with the be^ of intentions, 
tried to persuade her to be less severe on self, and to 
give up the notion of becoming a nun, our Catherine 
knew well how to give a pleasant turn to the conver- 
sation. After two years of service she fell sick and 
W21S forced to return to her father's house. But a 
very wonderful thing that happened during this sick- 
ness made her feel more than ever that God was 
calling her to a life in the convent. 

One afternoon, while the sun was shining through 
the little window into her room, and she lay there 
suffering, she saw a holy man accompanied by two 
nuns, all clothed with light, draw near her sickbed. 
They brought her a large golden book, and said: 
"Read this book through and thou wilt know what it 
means to be a nun." They gave her the book and 
disappeared. The book was in Latin, yet she under- 
wood it and began to read it with the greater dili- 
gence. From this time on the book was given to her 
whenever she wished to read and taken away when 
she had finished. 

She Receives the Sacrament of Confirmation. 

From her seventeenth year to her twentieth 
Catherine lived as seamWress in Coesfeld. Here she 
enjoyed daily the privilege of £issiWing at Holy Mass 
26 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

and visiting the Blessed Sacrament. There is a long 
Way of the Cross running round the little town, and 
Catherine*s delight was to spend two hours of the 
night there in the company of Jesus. 

Slowly, usually barefoot, she wandered from one 
lonely Nation to another, her soul sunk into the bitter 
depths of His Passion. The Poor Souls would wake 
her in the night and follow her as she made her loving 
rounds. And when in the long night hours she knelt 
at the entreince of the church, it often happened that 
the doors, locked though they were, would open of 
themselves to let her in, and close again behind her 
when she left the sacred place. 

Her twentieth year found her again very weak 
in body, and so she returned to her family now in 
Flsunsche. At the age of twenty-two she was con- 
firmed in the church at Coesfeld. "When 1 entered 
the church" so she narrated in later years, "I saw the 
bishop shining with rays of light, and round about 
him seemed to be choirs of heavenly powers. The 
chrism on the brows of those confirmed gleamed with 
light. When the bishop anointed me, fire pierced 
through my forehead to my heart and brought me a 
deep feeling of length." At the same time she was 
illumined by the Holy Gho^ to underhand that the 
main purpose why she had received this ^rengthening 
was to enable her to suffer more than ever in repara- 
tion for the manifold sins and frailties under which 
the Church was laboring. 

For five years she continued to live with her 
parents. During the day-time her sewing and Pitching 
often took her away from home to one of the neigh- 

27 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

bors, but she generally returned at night. She had I 
now to meet people more than formerly, yet everyone | 
found her a model of virtue and a source of edification. 
She never laughed, and spoke very little, answering 
mode^ly when que^ioned. Her garments were 
always scrupulously neat and clean. When asked I 
why she was so careful about good manners and ' 
cleanliness, her answer was to the point: "Not for 
the body's sake" she would say, "but foi the souFs." I 
She spoke nothing but good of anyone, and quenched 
with friendly admonition any attempt made in her 
presence to speak of the faults of others. When '■. 
blamed herself she accepted the corrections so willing- i 
ly and lovingly as to a^onish those near her. Never, \ 
even when she had to pass the night in a Grange 
house, did she negledt her long period of prayer by 
night, kneeling with out^retched arms for hours. 
Unceasing prayer, contemplation of the sufferings of 
Jesus, marvellous imitation of Our Lord's unwearied j 
patience and self-denial, severe watchings and facings, | 
particularly on days consecrated to the Passion, an i 
all-round, watchful charity for her neighbor — such 
were the recreations of this simple God-fearing peas- | 
ant girl. 

When she was twenty-four, having for four years 
shared joy and sorrow with her dear ones at home, i 
she was favored with ^ill another my^ic privilege. i 
We give the account of this marvellous event in her i 
own words : "About four years before I entered the I 
convent I was praying one day near noon in the \ 
Jesuit church in Coesfeld. I was kneeling up in the I 
organ-loft before a crucifix, deeply sunk in contem- I 
28 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

plation. Then quietly a burning my^erious glow 
came over me, and from the Tabernacle where dwelt 
the Blessed Sacrament a youthful figure clothed in 
light advanced towards me — 'twas Jesus, my Bride- 
groom. In His left hand was a crown of roses, in 
His right a crown of thorns, and He held them out 
for me to choose. I reached for the crown of thorns. 
He put it on my head — I pressed it down with both 
hands — He disappeared — and I came back to con- 
sciousness with a violent pain around about my head. 

I had to leave the church immediately, as the 
sacri^an was already rattling his keys. The next day 
my head over the eyes and down over the temples to 
the cheeks was very much swollen and caused me very 
severe pains. The pains and the swelling returned 
quite often, lading v/hole days and nights at a time. 
I tried, and happily succeeded, to arrange my head- 
kerchief in such wise as to conceal all marks of 
blood. Later on, in the convent, only one of the 
sisters discovered my secret, and she kept it faithfully." 

In His own slow, my^erious way, God at la^ 
brought Catherine, now twenty-eight years old, into 
the convent of the Augu^inian nuns at Duelmen. 
Surely since it was fir^ founded this favored nunnery, 
Mount St. Agnes it was called, had never received a 
sister, at one and the same time so poor in earthly 
goods and so rich in heavenly virtues, as the po^ulant 
to whom it opened its doors on September 18, 1802. 

Her Nine Years in the Convent. 

Like so many other convents of the time the 
convent at Duelmen had not preserved its old-time 

29 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

fervor; it too had yielded to the lukewarm, levelling 
spirit of the age. It was moreover so poor that each 
sister had to supply her own breakfa^ and supper, 
either by the work of her hands or by gifts from friends 
outside. 

At her entrance Catherine besought the superior- 
ess to receive her for God's sake as the lowe^ in the 
house. On November 13, 1802, she was admitted 
into the novitiate. During the ceremony she had a 
vision wherein St. Augu^ine, the patron of her order, 
gave her the sacred habit and accepted her as daugh- 
ter and promised her special protedlion. Thus she 
was at la^ in the home of her Bridegroom, begemmed 
for her wedding-day with two bright jewels; the utter 
poverty in which she had come, and the general 
contempt she was to meet with in her new surround- 
ings. 

The year of her novitiate passed away, and on 
November 13, 1803, she made profession. Again 
during the ceremony she was favored with a vision, 
wherein she saw her soul blessed with ^ill higher gifts 
and powers, raised to the full dignity of spouse of 
Chri^, and adorned with a magnificent wedding-gown 
woven from all the prayers and sorrows of her life. 

Two years later she received the gift of the Five 
Wounds. The pain and the graces of the Crown of 
Thorns had been hers for nine years already. Now 
in the year 1807 she went one day to pray before 
the miraculous crucifix behind the altar in the church 
of St. Lambert in Coesfeld. She was soon lo^ in 
contemplation, and besought God with deeped long- 
ing for some share in the sufferings of Jesus. Her 
30 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

prayer la^ed several hours, and ever afterwards her 
hands and feet felt continuous and excruciating pain, 
ju^ as if they were transfixed, and pcirticularly the 
middle finger on each hand seemed paralyzed with 
pain. 

In the convent Catherine was never far from the 
Blessed Sacreiment, and could spend much time before 
the Tabernacle, and we can imagine what happiness 
this privilege brought her. When she prayed in her 
cell, or labored anywhere, she always managed to be 
turned cJso in body towards the altar where dwelt 
continuously her heart and soul. Of all her duties 
she loved mo^ those that fell on her as sacri^an, as 
these brought her into the company of the angels 
before the throne of God. While she poured out her 
love and compassion before the Tabernacle, God let 
her see how desecrated and profaned the Sacrament 
of Love was by the general lukewarmness of the times 
and by so many, many sacrileges, and she begged 
for sufferings in reparation for it ail. Her prayer was 
granted, and her pains often grew so terrible that she 
had to return to the Tabernacle for relief, or, if the 
doors were shut, to cling with longing soul and tor- 
tured body to the wall outside. 

Her method of hearing Mass was as follows: 
During the Rr^ part she placed herself with Jesus on 
the Mount of Olives. She prayed that the prieit 
might celebrate in a God-pleasing manner, £ind that 
all men might assi^ devoutly. At the Elevation she 
sent Our Savior to His Father, offered Him up for the 
whole world, especially for sinners, for the dying, for 
her neighbor, for the Poor Souls. The altar seemed 

31 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



to her peopled with angels, who dared not look upon 
Our Lord, and she wondered how she could be so 
bold as to gaze at Him. She often saw a brilliant 
light around the Blessed Sacrament, or in the mid^ 
of the Sacred Ho^ a cross with blood running from 
it. Again she would see Our Savior present in the 
Ho^ in the form of a child, or the Infant Jesus hov- 
ering above the chalice during the midnight Mass at 
Chri^mas. At Holy Communion she would see her 
Bridegroom come before her eyes in bodily form and 
disappear again after she had received. La^ly, she 
often fell into ec^asy during the holy sacrifice. 

Catherine had passed nine years in the religious 
life when, in the autumn of 1811, Mount St. Agnes 
fell vidlim to the iron hand that was crushing nearly 
all the mona^eries and convents of Germany. Its 
possessions were confiscated by the ilate, and the 
inmates turned out into the Greets. 

Catherine returned to the world with an awful 
feeling of horror, as if she realized what fearful suffer- 
ing awaited her there. The dissolution of her convent 
filled her with such grinding pain that she fell seriously 
sick. But Our Lady appeared to her and said : "Thou 
wilt not die as yet, thou mu^ be the center of uproar 
and excitement, but be not afraid. Whatever happens 
to thee, help will always be at hand." 

Catherine Is Favored with the Stig^mata. 

In the spring of 1812 Catherine went to live in 
the house of a widow ncuned Roter in Duelmen. "On 
leaving the convent," she said, "I had such a shrink- 
ing feeling of horror that I thought every ^one in the 

32 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

^reet would swallow me up." Yet the attracflion of 
her soul to God was more powerful than it had been 
in the convent. 'Twas not unusual to find her lo^ 
in ec^asy, wherein she sometimes remained for hours. 

During that summer began the long series of her 
^igmatisations. The fir^ took place on Augu^ 28th, 
fea^ of St. Augu^ine, patron of her order. While 
she was kneeling in prayer, her arms out^retched in 
the form of a cross. Our Lord approached in the shape 
of a luminous youtli. In His hand was a little cross 
of white Wcix, wherewith He imprinted a cross-shaped 
wound on her brea^ near the heart. She did not 
examine the wound, but she felt as if fire had fallen 
there, and this burning pain never left her. 

November 25th, the fea^ of St. Catherine and her 
own namesday, brought with it her second di^indtion. 
Again it consi^ed in a bleeding cross on the brea^, 
resembling in shape the holy cross of Coesfeld. Then 
as a Chri^mas present the Infant Savior signed her 
brea^ with a third sign of the cross, lying above the 
second, and similar in shape. Thus it pleased God 
to adorn her body three times with the wonderful sign 
of redemption. From early days it had been her 
prayer to have His cross imprinted into her heart, 
that so she might never forget His love, but she had 
not meant that imprinting to appear outwardly. 

Four days after Chri^mas, December 29, 1812, 
she was favored with ^igmatisation in the ^ridt sense 
of the word, i. e., the nail wounds of Our Lord in 
hands and feet and His lance-wound in the side. Let 
us hear her own account : "I was contemplating the 
Passion. I had been begging Jesus to let me share 

33 

3 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



with Him His sufferings, and began to say five Our 
Fathers in honor of the Five Wounds. As I lay there 
with out^retched arms, there came over me an im- 
mense sweetness and an infinite thirsting for the pains 
of Jesus. Then I saw a brightness coming down upon 
me, ^raight from above. It was not a cross, but a 
crucified body with out^retched arms, all luminous 
and transparent and full of life. The wounds gleamed 
^ill brighter than the body, like five special glories in 
a vision that was all glory. 

"My soul was ravished with that beauty and all 
on fire with sweet though painful longing for the sor- 
rows of my Savior. The longer I gazed upon those 
glorious wounds the more burning grew the longing 
of my soul until I felt my very hands, feet and side 
begin to bur^ with desire. And then fir^ from the 
hands of the vision, then from the side, then from the 
feet, there leaped forth a number of luminous red- 
colored rays of light. These beams, three-fold at 
their source and ending like an arrow, sprang out 
from the glorious Vision till they re^ed upon and 
sank into my own hands, feet and side. I lay there for a 
long time, unconscious of all about me, till one of 
the girls of the house happened to come into the 
room. She drew my out^retched hands down to their 
ordinary position, and told the other members of the 
household that I had been beating my hands bloody, 
I begged them all to keep the matter secret." 

Consequenees of the Stig^mata. 

Catherine, as narrated above, had received the 
^igma of the Crown of thorns four years before she 
34 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



entered the convent, while praying before a crucifix 
in the Jesuit church at Coesfeld. 

For some time now all these ^igmata used to 
bleed nearly every day, then the five wounds and the 
crown of thorns began to bleed only on Fridays, the 
crosses on her brea^ only on Wednesdays, while on 
f e^ivals of the Passion and of the Cross all the wounds 
would bleed together. So profuse were these bleed- 
ings that the blood would run down from beneath her 
head-kerchief like breams of light, and would force 
its way from the other wounds out through many 
overlaying folds of clothing. 

Her sufferings were unspeakable. Piercing, burn- 
ing pains shot through all her wounds, particularly 
at times of bleeding. The slighted touch would re- 
double her suffering, and even the air would torture 
her like a singeing flame. 

The keenest of all her wounds was the crown of 
thorns. She seemed to wear a broad heavy ring of 
pain round her head, her hair felt like one great woven 
mass of thorns, and the touch of a pillow co^r her mo^ 
violent sufferings. Forehead, temples, eyes, mouth 
and throat — all ached and throbbed with pain. This 
pain in mouth and throat corresponded to that which 
she saw Our Lord suffer in His crowning when one 
long thorn pierced through His head into His mouth. 

In some of her special sufferings of reparation 
her body showed the marks of Our Lord's scourging. 
These marks looked like Gripes inflidled with violent 
blows from a whip, and were always accompanied by 
feverish chills. 

Her pains of body were immense, but ilill harder 

35 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



to bear were her pains of soul. Here, too, she had 
to become like unto Jesus, rejedted, insulted, mal- 
treated, and led to death on Calvary by the thankless 
people He had come to save. None of all her pre- 
vious trials had ^ruck her £is hard as did now the 
appearance of her ^igmata to the eyes of those around 
her. The fir^ day she thought they would disappear 
as evening approached, and a deep feeling of horror 
came over her when she began to realize that they 
were to mark her for all time, and above all that she 
could not conceal them, but mu^ let them be known 
to the world. Twas not the pain that she shrank 
from. We know already that from her earlier days 
she had besought Our Lord for the grace to share His 
sufferings, and that she had now in secret borne them 
joyfully for years — but that these tokens were to 
appear outwardly had never entered her mind. In 
the mo^ bitter afflidtion of spirit she begged Our Lord 
over and over again to take these outward signs away, 
but His answer was ever the same: "My grace is 
sufficient for thee." 



Her Long" Illness. 

After her ^igmatisations, Catherine ceased to 
take any nourishment, and Holy Communion had to 
support also her bodily life. She felt new ^rength 
whenever she received, and grew weak to death, like 
one dying of hunger, when the force of circumjftances 
or the negledt of others deprived her for some time of 
the Bread of Angels. When she did again commun- 
icate those around her were a^onished to see how 
36 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



quickly she regained her old ^rength and spirit. 
Contemplation, too, did its share in preparing her for 
suffering. This gift had grown ^ill Wronger after her 
^igmatisations. Daily she would spend hours at a 
time in ec^asy, absorbed in contemplating visions, 
returning then to herself with renewed ^rength and 
courage. 

For everything consecrated to the service of the 
Church, things as well as persons, she felt, both in 
body and in soul, the ^ronge^ attraction. When in 
ec^asy she would bless herself when sprinkled with 
holy water, but if the water was not blessed she would 
remain motionless. When a prie^ blessed her she 
would make the sign of the cross, even if she were in 
ec^asy, and that whether the prie^ was near her or 
at a di^ance. if a layman blessed her, whether near 
by or far away she gave no sign. Father Limburg, 
on his way to some sick person, entered Si^er Cath- 
erine's room carrying the Blessed Sacrament in a silver 
vessel purposely concealed beneath his garments. 
At once Si^er Catherine rose to her knees in bed 
and bent down in adoration, crying out: "Behold 
Jesus in His tabernacle comes to me!" Even in 
ec^asy she would eagerly grasp for and joyfully press 
to her brea^ any holy or blessed objedt brought near 
her, candle, palm, cross, medal or relic. Towards 
other obje<fls she showed no attraction. 

Ordineiry methods of drawing attention, as shak- 
ing, or shouting, had no effedt on her in her ec^asies, 
yet she would at once come out of them on the slight- 
eil command of a superior, whether that command 
was given with the tongue, or with the pen, or simply 

37 



Sketch of the Wonderhil Life of 

with the mind. Words of a superior not meant as 
commands, or commands given by laymen had no 
influence on her. 

Catherine's Gifts in the Service of the Church. 

We have already heard that she received the gift 
of contemplation at her Baptism. Let us now see 
more in detail the objedls of her contemplation. 

Briefly it may be said that she beheld in vision 
all that Mother Church proposes to our faith through- 
out the entire ecclesia^ical year. She saw the events 
in the lives of Our Lord, His Mother and the saints, 
which underlie the various fe^ivals. Each year the 
eyes of her spirit wandered over the hi^ory of our 
salvation from beginning to end. Every person, every 
circum^ance of time and place, passed before her 
eyes as di^indl and minute as they had been in reality. 
It was not merely that these visions came to her, 
rather, she went to them and took part in them. At 
Chri^mas she would be in Bethlehem, for in^ance, 
mingling with the troop of adoring shepherds. Or 
she would accompany Our Lady to Elizabeth for the 
Visitation. 

What she saw mo^ clearly and in mo^ detail 
was the Life of Our Lord, with all its my^erious words 
and deeds, from His Conception till His Ascension. 
How wondrous is the account she has given of His 
supernatural conception and birth, of the visit of the 
Magi, of His presentation, of Simeon and Anna, of 
His flight into Egypt and His life at Nazareth. Then 
she follows Him through the three years of His public 
38 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

life to where it ends on Calvary, never absent from 
His side, listening to His every word, beholding His 
every deed, passing with Him from place to place, 
ju^ as if she had lived when He did. All this she 
wrote down by special command of God, adding to 
it the hi^ory of His Resurredlion, and that of His 
Church and Apo^les up to the time of Our Lady's 
Assumption. 

Chri^mas Eve in the year 1819 found her suf- 
fering in every limb, her hands trembling and twitch- 
ing with pain. Still she was battling manfully and 
her soul was full of joy. During Advent she had 
been making little presents for the poor. These she 
had di^ributed, and was now on her way to church 
there to lay down before the crib the mo^ co^ly of 
her gifts — a bouquet of roses. For roses was what 
she saw when her sufferings appeared to her out- 
wardly. On the way to the crib she spoke as follows : 
"Oh, how happy he who can see the beauty, the 
shining clearness, the unassuming depths of Mary's 
soul ! She knows everything, yet is so childlike she 
seems unconscious of any evil. Her eyes re^ on the 
ground, but pierce to the very soul when they do 
look up, like the rays of the sun, like the Painless 
beams of truth. Yet this wonderful effedl is never 
premeditated. Her gaze, like all else about her, is 
guileless childlike and full of God." 

And now a wonderful change came over Cath- 
erine. Her wan, pale face began to shine with joy, 
and a great wave of gladness swept over her soul. 
"Ju^ look" she cried, "how nature round us begins 
to smile and glow in its returning innocence and joy- 

39 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



ousness ! See how the hearts of good men everywhere 
are leaping up to meet their Redeemer! A sweet 
feeling of hopeful sorrow settles gently down upon 
the souls of sinners, while the impenitent are afflidled 
with confused forebodings of evil which they cannot 
explain. All in some incomprehensible way feel the 
approaching fulness of time. And one heart above 
all others thrills with the full blessedness of the time, 
the heart beneath which lies, soon to be born, the 
Redeemer, the heart of our Blessed Lady." 

Let us hecir Catherine narrate the birth of Jesus : 
"Sometime in the evening Mary spoke to Joseph, 
saying that in the coming night would be born the 
Child she had conceived of the Holy Gho^. Joseph 
retired to the outer portion of the cave, and gave 
himself to prayer. Mary, too, clothed in a white gar- 
ment with broad folds, was on her knees in prayer, 
her face turned towards morning. The cave was 
flooded with supernatural light, out through which 
shone the figure of Mary, as if surrounded with flames, 
like the burning bush seen by Moses on Mount Horeb. 
The midnight hour is come. Mary is rapt in ec^asy, 
her hands are crossed upon her brea^, her head is 
bent in adoration. The splendor round her grows 
brighter, I gaze upwards, the roof of the cave seems 
to have melted away. I see a way of light ^retching 
up to Paradise and all alive with heavenly figures. A 
moment, and Jesus is born, lies there on the coverlet 
at her knees, a little Infant shining with light, more 
bright and luminous than all the splendor that before 
filled the cave. Dead nature thrills with deep emo- 
tion, the ^ones in floor and walls seem to be alive. 
40 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

Mary wakes from ec^asy — calls Joseph — Joseph falls 
in humble, adoring joy down upon his face — Mary 
presents to him the Gift of Heaven and he takes It in 
his arms. And now Mary wraps the Child in swad- 
dling-cloths, fir^ in one of red, then in one of white, 
and lays Him in the mamger." 

And so the inspired gazer goes on to tell of the 
singing angels, the adoring shepherds, and the won- 
drous things that happened through the world on that 
iir^ Chri^mas night, as, for in^ance, in Rome the 
opening out of a fountain of oil from the earth. 

In like manner she saw the life of each saint 
when his fea^ came round, both the life he had led 
on earth and the life he now enjoys in Heaven. Or 
she had but to see with bodily eyes the relics of a 
saint and her soul would behold him in person. 

Her Communieations with the Poor Souls. 

With the Church Suffering Catherine was ju^ as 
familiar as she was with the Church Triumphant. 
The complete helplessness and abandonment of its 
members had called forth her earlier sympathies. 
God let them know how ready she was to make 
sacrifices for them, and they appeared to her to 
beseech help, or cried out to her from afar without 
leaving Purgatory. Often, too, especially on or near 
All Souls' Day, her angel or some Sciint would lead 
her into Purgatory itself, and what she beheld in those 
sad abodes of pain fanned the self-sacrificing flames 
of her zeal ^ill brighter. At her return she knew 
what it was that kept this or that poor soul so long in 

41 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



the purifying flames: A Holy Maiss negledled, a 
penance or vow unfulfilled, a re^itution of unju^ 
goods unperformed, and so on. And then, without 
bodily communication, she would prevail upon living 
relatives and friends to cancel these obligations of 
their dear ones beyond the grave. Sometimes she 
was even allowed in Purgatory itself to address words 
of consolation to the Poor Souls. 

Purgatory she describes as a great kingdom of 
sadness and pain. The place and condition of each 
soul is determined by the nature and degree of its 
guilt, and some are far more unhappy than others. 
Darkness reigns over the outermost region, and 
wicked spirits can come there to torture the souls 
with anxiety about their salvation. In other places 
there is more light. Some souls are imprisoned, 
others free; some are alone, others in company. 
The punishments, to speak of them in our human 
way, are partly exterior, partly interior. 

Souls that are in the higher degrees of purification 
have from God the privilege of appearing to souls in 
lower degrees to console them, and also of appearing 
to good men still on earth. Catherine herself received 
many such visits. Poor Souls spoke to her of the 
needs of the Church. A mother besought her aid for 
a daughter who was leading a sinful life. A husband 
begged her to bring his wife back to the right way, as 
she was carrying on an unju^ lawsuit and drowning 
all interior and exterior warnings in a careless life of 
pleasure and dissipation. Ju^ one more instance 
out of so many. Catherine's own mother, dead now 
for three years and a half, appeared to her, and led 
42 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



her to a spot of special pain and sorrow that she 
might aid the souls there confined. Surely a beautihil 
illustration of the natural bond of love between mother 
and daughter, transfigured by the supernatural love 
each bears for her neighbor. 

Catherine was never idle in the cause of the Poor 
Souls, yet she looked upon all Souls' Day as their 
special day of mercy. Some saints, particularly St. 
Augustine, would exhort her to special zeal in prepa- 
ration for the coming celebration, in order to see as 
many souls as possible enter Heaven on that day. 
Prayer, invocation of the saints, her own good works. 
Mass, Communion and indulgences — these were her 
chief ways of coming to their assistance. 

Her angel taught her how to turn the many bit- 
ternesses of her daily life into a source of consolation 
for the Poor Souls, and she obeyed his in^rudtions 
zealously and sweetly. Further, she begged and ob- 
tedned the grace of suffering in body what they suffered 
in soul. Thus she would feel herself chained down 
with pain till she could not move, or would languish 
in burning fever without being able to drink. 

Finally there were special works of satisfaction 
asked for by the Poor Souls themselves : amends for 
some negledl, reparation of scandal, and so on. "Ah, 
'tis saddening" she would say "to see how little is 
done for the Poor Souls. Every little work offered 
for them, every little adt of charity, of patience, relieves 
them at once, and they are as glad and thankful as 
a man dying with thir^ is for a drink of water. Prie^s 
especially can aid them by devotion in reciting the 
brevizury, and by giving them the blessing. A price's 

43 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

blessing falls like refreshing dew upon the souls in 
Purgatory." For this reason she often besought her 
confessor to bless them. 



Catherine Sujffering for the Church. 

Catherine's chief task on earth was to suffer in 
reparation for the evils both of the Church in general 
and of individual souls. To prepare her for this task 
God granted her the gift of contemplation. The 
whole Church lay open to her, every country, every 
diocese, all orders and ranks of society, and especially 
the hierarchy. Above all she was called to be the 
helpmate of Pope Pius VII. during his long and painful 
pontificate. In real though my^ic manner she served 
as his great ally in the religious re^oration in Germany. 

During the la^ eleven years of her life her way 
of the cross grew ever more painful, her succession of 
sicknesses ever more torturing. For the body of the 
Church, in those days so torn and lacerated, she 
ofifered her own body in martyrdom; for countless 
sick and dying members of that holy body, she offered 
her own self-sacrificing, suffering members. As one 
vision of evil after another passed before her soul, so 
one Grange sickness after another came upon her, 
each marked by its own particular anguish, abandon- 
ment, and sense of bearing another's guilt, each when 
reparation was done disappearing as rapidly as it had 
come. Hereupon there would be a brief pause and 
then a new battle. Thus till her death she bore the 
pains of Jesus — in soul and body a true spouse of the 
Crucified. 
44 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



These extraordinary sufferings would often la^ 
several days, even entire weeks. 'Twcis an exception 
when she could sleep at all, rather, her pains were 
keenest ju^ at night. Those around her, accuilomed 
though they were to her uninterrupted condition of 
suffering, ^ill could not but feel the deeped pity when 
one of these extraordinary visitations came over her. 
Yet nothing could be done to relieve her, and they 
had to ^and round her, and gaze at her in loving 
helplessness. Time and again she was on the brink 
of the grave, and prie^ and dod:or thought it impos- 
sible she should live longer. 

But what nature could not do, grace could. Again 
and again God gave her new life and ^rength that 
she might be able to lay herself once more on the 
altar of reparation. Repeatedly, too. He sent an angel 
to let her choose between going at once to Heaven 
and continuing to suffer on earth. Her answers to 
these extraordinary offers give us some notion of the 
brightness that mu^ forever be hers in that Home of 
Glory. "If I can ^ill be of use" were the con^ant 
words of her heroic heart, "let me suffer, let me help, 
let me save." And then God would intervene mira- 
culouly. Angels or saints would bring her heavenly 
medicines in the form of morsels of bread, or bouquets 
of flowers, or bundles of herbs, and her vanishing life 
again grew ^rong. Or Our Lord Himself would give 
her Communion and she was well again. Or she 
would see in vision the beauties of Heaven and return 
to herself with a new lease of life. 

It mu^ not be thought she enjoyed these heavenly 
aids only after passing through a period of extraordi- 

45 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



nary suf¥ering. In the mid^ of her awhil pains some 
scene of Our Lord's Passion would be opened to her 
in vision, and His ilill greater pain, His ^rong, loving 
resignation Reeled her own troubled heart to suffer 
with His. Or she would behold a tortured martyr or 
a suffering confessor, who consoled her and taught 
her how to fa^en her hopes to eternal glory and thus 
persevere to the end. 

Her services were not confined to the Church in 
general. Individual persons, affliAed in soul or body, 
often received aid through her mediation. She would 
either see them in vision, or in her own heart she 
heard their cry to God for help. Sinners, invalids, 
prisoners, the poor, the unfortunate, the dying and 
the Poor Souls — she worked for them all. No place, 
or ^ate, or condition, no country, or person, though 
he were heathen or Jew, was outside the sunshiny 
circle of her suffering love. And her sacrifice was 
never refused. God loved beyond measure that pure, 
unselfish heart, and her cry for suffering mankind 
could never pass unheard. Prayer, self-denial, love 
of enemies, almsgiving with the poor pittance she 
herself lived on — all this offered for others made 
irresi^ible the beseeching words that came from that 
bed of pain. 

Blessed Catherine and the 
Blessed Sacrament. 

It was natural that Catherine's love and zeal was 
centered in the great mystery of Our Lord in the 
Blessed Sacrament. It adled on her loving heart like 
the ^ronge^ of magnets. Often she was favored 
46 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



with wonderful apparitions of Him who lies hidden 
behind the sacred veils. 

During the month of June, the month of the 
Sacred Heart and of Corpus Chri^i, Catherine's ever 
recurring pains of reparation were con^antly inter- 
mingled with visions of the Blessed Sacrament. While 
watching St. Anthony of Padua sunk in adoration 
before the Tabernacle, she saw a luminous Child 
come forth from the holy species, saw Him re^ over 
the shoulders of the saint, embrace him and then 
return into the sacred appearances. She beheld the 
miracle wrought by the same saint to convince a 
crowd of unbelievers, when a bea^ fell on its knees 
to adore the Blessed Sacrament borne through the 
Greets in the hands of the saint. Again, wrapt in 
spirit, she was carried away to the church where Cor- 
pus Chri^i was fir^ celebrated. 

In preparation for her sufferings of reparation 
she had the general grace of beholding in vision the 
sins for which she was to atone. So too in regard 
to the Blessed Sacrament. She was led into the 
churches, fir^ of her native land, then of foreign coun- 
tries, to behold the unbelief, the unworthy Commun- 
ions, the omitted or unbecoming preparations, all the 
adls of irreverence and lukewarmness committed by 
prie^ and layman again^ the My^ery of God's love. 
And the exhau^iing work she had to do, had to do 
really though my^ically, was to draw these poor 
wretches out of mud and filth, to cleanse them with 
water, and then, ^ill more wearisomely, to lift them 
on her shoulders and dagger with them to the con- 
fessional. 

47 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of i 

The mo^ crushing burden of all was the lukewarm i 
carelessness that led countless Chri^ians, including i 
many prie^s, to entangle themselves sinfully in earthly i 
cares, and therefore to pay no attention to that sweet- | 
e^ of invitations : "Come ye all to Me that labor and i 
are burdened and I will refresh you." She loved to ! 
bear this burden on her right shoulder, mindful of i 
the wound which Our Lord's Cross had plowed so | 
deeply into His right shoulder. Of all His wounds i 
she venerated this shoulder wound as the mo^ painful, j 

"What an awful thing," she would cry out, "is i 
the unworthy celebration of Mass !" And all Chris- i 
tians, especially ail prie^s, will surely take to heart I 
the following remarkable words : "All the negligences ; 
of which a prieit makes himself guilty in saying Mass j 
increase, it is true, his burden of sin, yet what is want- j 
ing in his worship of God is supplied in a higher way. i 
Thus I see the prie^ there where his thoughts are. I i 
see his di^radlions really take him away from his 
sacred duties, from the altar to a book, or a garden, j 
or a person, or a company. But while he is absent | 
an angel takes his place, and in his ilead pronounces \ 
with due reverence and devotion the sacred words | 
of Mass." I 

As she continued to behold these long series of ; 
sins again^ the Blessed Sacrament, her heart went on | 
to beat with ever greater sympathy for the poor blind j 
souls who committed them, and over and over again j 
did she call upon God to have mercy and to spare. ; 
And God deigned to receive her sacrifices in union | 
with the services of His angels as repcuration for the j 
honor of which He had been deprived. "I have been," j 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



she once narrated, "with my angel to seven different 
churches in order to pray before the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, and to offer there the Passion of Our Lord as 
atonement for the profanation of this My^ery by bad 
prie^s." 

Now for some details of the awful sufferings that 
accompanied her labors and prayers for others. It 
Wcis the evening before Trinity Sunday. What seemed 
to be tiny rays of pain begcui to fall upon her. As 
night came on her sufferings became more intense. 
Her heart felt as if surrounded by flames, and from 
her heart those burning, cutting pains shot out through 
her whole body, out to her hands and feet, into the 
very marrow of her bones, and out along the very 
hairs of her head, throbbing with special violence in 
her ^igmata, and rushing from all diredlions back 
again to her heart. Overwhelmed with pain she 
could not recall why she was suffering, and cried to 
St. Augu^ne for relief. At once the saint ^ood 
before her, looked lovingly upon her, told her the 
purpose of it all, said he would console her, but till 
three o'clock she would have to suffer on in the 
sufferings of Jesus. From that moment on she felt 
consoled in the assurance that she was suffering in 
her suffering Lord and satisfying God's ju^ice for 
her neighbor. 

But all this was but a prelude. With the evening 
before Corpus Chri^i began an odlave of indescribable 
meurtyrdom. Night after night she lay in sleepless 
crucifixion, every bone and nerve racked with pain, 
perspiration dripping at every pore, and her tongue 
curved convulsively back into her throat for hours at 

49 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 



a time. And by day came from without di^urbance 
of every kind to probe her patience to the quick. And 
while she lay there helpless she saw pass before her 
in vision those for whom she was atoning : All who 
had sinned again^ the Blessed Sacrament, single 
persons, or particular communities, or the whole 
Church. Some of these unfortunates even approached 
her bedside to beg for aid, ju^ as a visitor in body 
might approach her by day. 

Yet visions of gladness mingled with visions of 
sadness. God let her gaze to the full upon the hi^ory 
of the Blessed Sacrament, from Its in^itution on 
Mount Sion down through centuries of veneration to 
the worshipful splendor thrown round It by the 
Church in our own day. How it resT:ed and consoled 
her to behold the rays of grace that spread out from 
It in luminous circle upon the souls of those who dwell 
in Its presence in spirit and in truth. 

Thus seven full days passed by. In the evening 
before the odlave her pains departed, but left behind 
them an exhau^ion unto death. She could not give 
a sign, or utter a sound, or move a single limb. An 
hour passed before she could reply ever so feebly to 
que^ions asked. Many thought her too far down 
the brink of death ever to come back, and human 
remedies were powerless againil the decrees of God. 
"But," says the sufferer herself, "Jesus was indescriba- 
bly kind towards me and refreshed me with exceeding 
sweetness." St. Clare, too, appeared to her and said : 
"Thou ha^ labored well to beautify the garden of 
the Blessed Sacrament; I mu^ bring thee a refresh- 
ment." And then the saint, shining with light, 
50 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 

floated down to her from on high, and laid on her 
tongue a three-cornered morsel adorned with pidtures. 
The saint disappeared immediately, but Catherine 
felt new-comforted in her weariness, and said : "Once 
more my life has been re^ored to me, I owe it 
entirely to God*s grace." 

And now she is ready for the greatest of her 
revelations. God opens her spirit to behold and 
describe the sublime work of Redemption. The full 
three years of Our Lord's public Life pass before her 
in a series of wonderful visions. All that Our Savior 
said or did, every lesson He spoke or miracle He 
wrought, every city He visited or village He passed 
through, every Apo^le who clung to Him or Pharisee 
who opposed Him — all ^ands before her illumined 
down to the minuteil detail. 

Steadily, lovingly she follows Him over the roads 
to Pale^ine, through the Greets of Jerusalem, to the 
Supper-room on Mount Sion, on into the Garden of 
Olives, to the court of the high prie^ and the palace 
of the governor, on to His consummation on the cross- 
crowned height of Calvary, reding only when her 
Risen Lord ascends to the throne of His Father, and 
sends the Holy Spirit to be with His Church till time 
shall be no more. 

Such is the origin of one of the mo^ wonderful 
books the world has ever seen. Catherine did many 
great deeds for the Church, yet even she received no 
greater favor from God than the contemplations here 
described. How ^rikingly she exemplifies those 
words of Our Lord : "I confess to Thee, O Father, 
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou ha^ hid 

51 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

these things from the wise and prudent, and ha^ 
revealed them to little ones." (Matt. xi. 25.) 

Catherine's Final Labors and Death. 

To conclude this biographical sketch of our her- 
oine let us touch briefly the events of the la^ nine 
months of her life. They will deepen our conviction 
that she was called to be a Job-like vessel of suffering, 
the bearer of a unique God-given vocation in the 
service of Holy Church and her children. 

Corpus Chri^i 1823 left her so wearied and worn 
with works of reparation that she felt as if death mu^ 
be near, though it was in fadt ^ill three quarters of a 
year di^ant. Her tortures grew keener as the months 
lengthened. Our Lord's Gripes and scourges and 
nails were heaped upon her till she lay there crushed 
and bleeding, a shattered wreck of woe. St. Barbara 
and St. Catherine came to uphold her, showed her 
their own great sufferings, encouraged her not to 
yield, but to bear her freely-assumed burden of repar- 
ation to the end. Impenitents were the chief class 
she was atoning for at this time. Then for several 
months she endured an extremely painful inflamma- 
tion of the eyes, combined with convulsive coughing 
and vomiting, so that at times she lo^ sight and 
hearing altogether. What objedt she thereby attained 
was known to her, but she did not say what it was. 

Compassion with the sick kept her at death's 
door during Christmas-tide. Nor was she at this time 
visited by even a single ray of illumination and 
consolation. 
52 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



Amid ever increcising agony she entered into the 
year 1824 of which she was ^ill to spend weeks here 
below. Fever and gout consumed her in the intere^ 
of the dying and of the crisis the Church was then 
undergoing. "The Holy Father," she said, "has laid 
upon me his own fearful burden. He is so sick, and 
has to suffer so much from interference by outsiders. 
I heard him say he would let himself be slain in front 
of St Peter's rather than endure longer these attempts 
at slavery — the chair of St. Peter mu^ be made free 
at any co^." 

About January 12th, her sufferings advcinced a 
degree higher. "I cannot take on myself any further 
task," she said, "I am on the brink. Up to the pre- 
sent I have suffered for others, now I mu^ suffer for 
myself. Little Jesus brought me many pziins for 
Christmas. Now He has been here again and brought 
me many more. He showed me His own agony and 
that of His Mother and said : Thou art My spouse; 
endure what I endured, and do not ask why.' " And 
really from now on she could not think why she was 
suffering. This was what she meant by suffering for 
herself. "I am enduring a feaurful martyrdom," she 
said, "enduring it blindly. If only the hidden will of 
God be fulfilled in me." 

And ^11 from day to day her agonies waxed ^ill 
longer. Day and night she sat quivering in her 
bed of pain, bathed at times in the sweat of death, 
or swooning away in exhau^ion. Bright as silver shone 
the marks of Our Lord's nails out through her ema- 
ciated hands. Deep peace and perfect resignation 
were written in her face, even while it struggled and 

53 



Sketch of the Wonderful Life of 

quivered in pain. Now and then came from her lips 
a broken prayer for aid, and the use of St. Walburg's 
oil gave her some relief. 

On the evening of February 1^, her rattling, 
labored breathing suddenly ceased — the bells were 
ringing for Candlemas. "If you only knew," she 
whispered the next morning, "what Our Lady has 
been doing with me ! She took me with her — but 
no! I mu^ not speak further." Our Lady had evi- 
dently led her to see the blessedness of Heaven. 

During the la^ eight days she spoke scarcely a 
word with anyone but her confessor. All her powers 
were concentrated in inward prayer. Yet to her la^ 
breath she persevered in her own bright, loving, 
patient ways, and a friendly pressure of the hand 
expressed her gratitude when she could no longer 
speak. Touching ejaculations fell from her lips. "O 
good Lord Jesus, thanks a thousand times for the 
blessings that filled my life ! Not as I will, O Lord, 
no, but as Thou wilt." These her cries on the seventh. 
And on the eighth : "O Jesus, unto Thee I live, unto 
Thee I die. Thanks be to God, I can hear nothing, 
I can see nothing." 

On the ninth Jesus at la^ came for her. In the 
morning she once more received from her confessor 
the sacred Body of Our Lord. Towards two o'clock 
in the afternoon death was plainly drawing near. 
She moaned with the pains in her back, and said : "I 
am on the Cross, the end is near." Her confessor 
gave her the general absolution, and recited the 
prayers for the dying. She took his hand, thanked 
him, and said farewell. 
54 



Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich. 



But death waited yet a few hours. Once she even 
said : "I think I c£uinot die yet, because so many are 
mi^aken in thinking good of me. Oh, if only I could 
cry loud enough for all men to hear, that I am a 
worthless nothing, a wretched sinner, worse even 
than the thief on the cross." 

Evening came on. Friends and neighbors were 
gathered round her couch, all watchful in prayer. 
The eyes of the dying si^er were fa^ened upon a 
cross, which from time to time her confessor pressed 
to her lips, humility driving her to touch only the feet 
of the Beloved One who hung there. 

Shortly before the end she pronounced once 
again adls of sorrow for sin, whereupon Jesus flooded 
her soul with consolation, and she whispered her la^ 
happy words : "I feel as safe in God's hands now as 
if I had never sinned." 

It is half-pa^ nine. The confessor puts the lighted 
candle in her hand, and says to the silent spedtators : 
"She is dying." 

She sinks down on her left side — her head droops 
till it re^ on her brea^ — she is dead. — 

A true heroine has poured out her life on the 
battlefield of the Church. Twas not indeed the per- 
secutor's sv/ord that laid her low, yet that wa^ed and 
^ricken frame, luminous with the wounds of our Re- 
demption, is none the less the body of a Martyr. 

And with her death approaches the hour she had 
foretold, the hour she had so nobly toiled for and 
suffered for, the hour when Holy Church ca^ off her 
centuries-old burden of lukewarmness and wakes to 
a new springtime of Faith. 

55 



THE PASSION OF OUR LORD 
JESUS CHRIST. 



The Chalice Used at the Last Supper. 

' I ' HE chalice, which the Apo^les brought from the 
house of Veronica, is a moil wonderful and 
mysterious vessel. For a long time it had lain in the 
Temple concealed among other ancient and precious 
relics, whose origin and purpose had been forgotten, 
juil as in the changing fortunes of Christian centuries 
so meuiy precious vessels, sacred jewels from olden 
times, have been suffered to fall into negledl and 
oblivion. From time to time this colledtion of sacred 
vessels in the Temple was re-muitered, and one or 
the other relic, unknown and antiquated, Wcis sold 
or melted and recall. Thus this chalice, the moil 
sacred of all vessels, was often touched and handled, 
but never melted, because its material was unknown. 
Finally, by God^s Providence, some young prieils 
found it in the treasury of the Temple, where it lay 
with other articles in a box of forgotten rubbish. It 
was sold to antiquarians, and came at lail, with all 
that belonged to it, into the hands of Seraphia. It 
has already served at many feaits in honor of Jesus, 
and from today on belongs permanently to His holy 
Church. It remained at firil in the Church at Jeru- 
salem in the hands of James the Less, and I see it now 

57 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



somewhere, ^ill well preserved. One day it will come 
to light, ju^ as it did for the La^ Supper. 

This large chalice had once been in the possession 
of Abraham. It was brought from the land of Semir- 
amis to Canaan by Melchisedech, at the time when 
he began to found settlements in Jerusalem. Mel- 
chisedech used the chalice for the sacrifice of bread 
and wine which he offered in Abraham's presence. 
After the sacrifice he presented the chalice to Abra- 
ham. The chalice had even belonged to Noe. It 
was in the Ark, placed on high, quite near the roof. 

The chalice remained, after Melchisedech*s sac- 
rifice, in the possession of Abraham. It wandered 
also into Egj^t, and came into the hands of Moses. 

In sub^ance the chalice was compadt, massive, 
bell-like. It seemed to be a growth of nature, not a 
produdl of art. I could see through it. Jesus alone 
knew of what it was made. 

Jesus Goes to Jerusalem. 

Whil^ Peter and John were in Jerusalem, making 
arrangements for eating the Ea^er lamb, Jesus was 
bidding farewell to Lazarus, to the holy women, and 
to His Mother, and was in^rud:ing and exhorting 
them in a mo^ touching manner. 

I saw Him speak to His Mother apart from the 
others, I remember some things that He said. He 
had sent Peter and John to prepare the Pasch in 
Jerusalem, because the one was the Apo^le of faith, 
the other of love. Magdalen, who was entirely beside 
herself with sorrow, loved Him unutterably. He said, 
58 



Jesus Goes to Jerusalem. 



but her love was ^11 carnal, and for this reason she 
was beside herself with grief. He spoke also of the 
traitorous schemes of Judas, and the Blessed Virgin 
interceded for him. 

Judeis had again hurried away from Bethania to 
Jerusalem, pretending he had many things to look 
after and meuiy debts to pay. Jesus inquired for him 
about nine o'clock, though He knew full well what he 
was doing. Judas spent the day in the city, running 
from one Pharisee to another, to complete all neces- 
sciry arrangements. He was even shown the men-at- 
arms who were to capture Our Lord. The time 
required for his pretended business, and for the di^ance 
to and fro, was so well calculated that he never lacked 
an excuse for his absence. Not till a short time before 
the Paschal Supper did he return to Our Lord. I saw 
all his plans and all his thoughts. While Jesus was 
speaking to Mary about him, I saw much of his char- 
adler. He was adtive and obliging, but full of envy, 
avarice and ambition, and did not fight again^ these 
passions. He had even worked miracles, had healed 
the sick in the absence of Jesus. 

When Our Lord told her what was awaiting Him, 
the Blessed Virgin begged, so touchingly, to let her 
die with Him. But He exhorted her to bear her grief 
more quietly than the other women. He told her 
also that He would rise from the dead, and named 
the spot where He would appear to her. She did not 
weep much, but she was very sorrowful, cind awe- 
inspiring in her gravity and resignation. Our Lord 
thanked her like a good Son for all her love. He put 
His axm round her and pressed her to His brea^. 

59 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



He also told her He would in spirit eat His La^ Sup- 
per with her, and fixed the hour when she should 
receive. To all He gave many initrudlions and bade 
a tender farewell. 

Towards noon He set out with the nine Apostles 
from Bethania to Jerusalem. He was followed by a 
band of seven disciples, who were all, except Na- 
thanael and Silas, natives of Jerusalem and vicinity. 
Amongst them I remember John, Mark, and the son 
of the poor widow who on last Thursday, just a week 
ago today, came to offer her mite when Jesus was 
sitting near the treasury in the Temple. Her son 
became a disciple just a few days ago. — Later in the 
day the holy women followed Jesus to Jerusalem. 

Jesus wandered with His compcinions back and 
forth along the roads round Mount Olivet, and in the 
Valley of Josaphet, even as feur as Mount Cedvary. 
As He wandered on. He conversed continually with 
them. Among other things. He told the Apo^Ies that 
so fcir He had been giving them His bread and His 
wine, but today He was about to give them His flesh 
and His blood, to leave them everjrthing He possesses, 
all that He had and all that He was. While saying 
the words Our Lord looked on them with such touch- 
ing tenderness, that He seemed to pour out on them 
His very soul, to faint away with love and longing for 
self-sacrifice. His disciples did not underhand Him. 
They thought He was referring to the Ea^er Lamb. 
It is unspeakable, how loving and patient He was at 
Bethania and here, during these la^ conversations 
with His disciples. Later in the afternoon the holy wom- 
en came to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark. 
60 



The La§l Supper, 



The seven disciples who had Parted to follow 
Jesus to Jerusalem did not accompany Him in these 
wanderings. They carried the garments for the Pas- 
chal ceremony in bundles to the Supper Room, laid 
them in the entremce-hall, and went away to the house 
of Mary, the mother of Mark. 

When Peter cmd John returned from the house 
of Seraphia to the Supper Room with the chalice for 
the la^ Supper, they found in the entrance-hall all 
the ceremonieJ garments which those seven disciples 
as well as others had brought there. These disciples 
had likewise hung the bare walls of the Supper Room 
with drapery, had opened the trap-doors in the roof, 
and prepared three hanging lamps. Peter and John 
then went to the Valley of Josaphat and called Our 
Lord £uid His nine Apo^les. The disciples and 
friends who were to share in the Paschal Supper did 
not come till later. 

The Last Supper. 

For the Paschal Supper the disciples were divided 
into three companies of twelve each. Jesus presided 
as feimily-father over the twelve Apo^les in the Supper 
Room. In an adjacent room Nathanael presided 
over twelve elderly disciples. In another, Eliac, son 
of Cleophsis and Mary, the daughter of Heli, brother 
of Mary Cleophas, and former disciple of John the 
Bapti^ presided in the same manner over twelve 
other disciples. 

Three Ea^er lambs had been immolated and 
sprinkled for them in the Temple. But there was also 
a fourth lamb, that had been immolated and sprinkled 

61 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



in the Supper Room itself. It was served to Jesus 
and the Twelve. Judas, however, did not know this. 
His self-imposed business delayed him so long that 
he was not present when the lamb had been immolat- 
ed. Then he had some arrangements to make for 
the betrayal, and did not come till shortly before 
supper. 

The immolation of the lamb for Jesus and His 
Apo^les was exceedingly touching. It took place in 
the entrance-hall. Simon's son, the levite, was present 
to lend aid. The Apo^les and disciples were present, 
and sang the 118th Psalm. Thereupon Jesus spoke 
of a new age of the world, saying that the sacrifice of 
the Paschal lamb ordered by Moses, which had been 
but a figure was now to find its fulfillment. For this 
reason the lamb muil be immolated ju^ like the fir^ 
lamb in Egypt, since they were now in all truth to 
depart from the land of bondage. 

All necessary vessels and in^ruments were ready. 
, A beautiful little lamb was brought forth, crowned 
with a garland, which was taken off and sent to the 
Blessed Virgin, who was in a room some di^ance ofi 
with the other women. The lamb was now laid 
backwards on a board and bound to it by a cord 
round its body. It reminded me of Jesus bound to 
the pillar for scourging. Simon's son held the lamb's 
head ered:, and Jesus plunged a knife into the neck. 
Jesus then gave the knife to Simon's son, who pro- 
ceeded to dress the lamb. Jesus seemed to wound 
the lamb with sorrow and reludtance, and did His task 
quickly and gravely. The blood was caught up in a 
basin. A branch of hyssop was brought to Jesus. 

62 



The La§l Supper. 



He dipped it into the blood, went to the door of the 
room, sprinkled the two door-po^s and the lock with 
blood, and fixed the blood-dipped branch above the 
door. While so doing He spoke earned and solemn 
words. Among other things He said that the destroy- 
ing angel would pass by this room. They should 
worship here in peace and security, after He, the true 
Paschal Lamb would be immolated. A new age and 
a new sacrifice was now beginning, which would la^ 
to the end of the world. 

Then they retired to the Eaiter hearth at the end 
of the room, where once had ^ood the Ark of the 
Covenant. A fire already burned there. Jesus sprink- 
led the hearth with blood, consecrating it as altar. 
The remaining blood and the fat were poured into 
the fire beneath the altar. Thereupon Jesus moved 
v/ith the Apoilles, slowly round the room, singing 
psalms while so doing, and dedicated it as a new 
Temple. During this ceremony all the doors were 
locked. 

Meanwhile Simon's son had finished dressing the 
lamb. It was hung upon a ^ake. The front legs 
were fastened to a cross-beam, the hind legs to the 
stake itself. Alas ! It looked ju^ like Jesus on the 
cross. Along with the three lambs that had been 
slain in the Temple it was now put into the oven to 
be roamed. 

In this manner did Jesus in^rudt the Apo^les 
concerning the Easier lamb and its fulfillment. As 
the hour was approaching, and Judas also had come, 
they set out the tables. They put on the ceremonial 
garments that lay in the entrance-hall, and appeared 

63 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



as travellers, with another pair of shoes, a close-fitting 
coat of white, and over this a mantle, short in front 
and longer behind. They girded up their garments 
round the wai^, and likewise rolled up their wide 
sleeves. Thus attired, each compzmy went to its 
table, the two companies of disciples to their rooms 
on either side, Jesus and the Apo^les to the Supper 
Room. They took ^aves in their hands, and marched 
in pairs to the table, where they ^ood at their 
places, with their ^aves renting on their arms, and 
their arms raised on high. Jesus, who stood in the 
middle, had received from the chief steward two 
small staves, each slightly curved at the top, so that 
it resembled a short shepherd's crook. On one side 
each had a sort of hook, that looked like a lopped 
branch. Jesus left the staves rest on His girdle, 
crossed them before His brecist, and supported on 
the hooks His arms which were uplifted in prayer. 
It was so touching to see Him move about, leaning 
on these staves. The cross, so soon to be laid as a 
burden on His shoulders, still seemed to be under 
His shoulders as a support. — Thus standing they 
recited the Psalm : "Blessed be the Lord, the God of 
Israel," "Praised be the Lord," etc. When prayer W2is 
over, Jesus gave the staves, one to Peter, the other to 
John, and they — I do not reccdl distinctly — either 
laid them aside, or pcissed them on to the other 
Apostles. 

The table was narrow, high enough to reach half 
a foot above the knee of a ^emding man, and shaped 
in the form of a horse-shoe. Opposite Jesus, inside 
the half-circle, there was an open space for serving. 
64 



The La§l Supper. 



If I remember corredlly, there ^ood to the right of 
Jesus : John, James the Greater, James the Less; then, 
at the right end of the narrow table, Bartholomew; 
next to him, inside the circle, Thomas, and next to 
him, Judas Iscariot. To the left of Jesus ^ood : Peter, 
Andrew, Thaddeus; then, at the left end of the table, 
Simon, and next to him, inside the circle, Matthew 
and Philip. 

At the center of the table ^ood a dish with the 
Paschal lamb. When prayer was over, the chief 
Reward laid the carving knife before Jesus. He like- 
wise placed a cup of wine before Our Lord, and filled 
from a jug six other cups that ^ood along the table, 
one between every two Apoilles. Jesus blessed the 
wine and drank; in like manner £ilso the Apo^les, two 
and two from one cup. Jesus carved the lamb, and 
the Apo^es, by a sort of clasp or cramp, passed to 
Him one by one the round cakes of unleavened bread 
that served them as plates. They ate their portions 
quickly, using their ivory knives to cut the meat. 
The bones were afterwards burnt. They likewise ate 
quickly of the garlic and the green herbs, which they 
fir^ dipped into the sauce. While eating the Paschal 
lamb, they remained landing, merely leaning some- 
what on the backs of their seats. Jesus broke one of 
the loaves of unleavened bread, covered one piece of 
it, and di^ributed the remainder. Thereupon they 
ate the unleavened cakes. Another cup of wine was 
brought. Jesus gave thanks, but did not drink. He 
said : "Take the wine and share it among you; for I 
will not drink wine again till the Kingdom of God 
come." When they had drunk the wine, two and two, 

65 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



they sang a hymn. Then Jesus prayed or taught, 
and then followed the washing of hands. — And now 
they really lay down on their seats. So far all had been 
done landing, only at the la^ somewhat leaning, 
and very quickly. 

Our Lord had carved another lamb, which was 
brought to the holy women, who were taking their 
meal in an apartment on one side of the court, 
Jesus and His Apo^les now ate some more herbs, 
lettuce, and sauce. Jesus was very loving and 
cheerful, more so than I had ever seen Him. He 
bade also the Apo^les forget all grief. The Blessed 
Virgin, too, at table with the women, was bright and 
cheerful. It was so touching, when the other women 
approached, and took hold of her veil to call her 
attention, to see how simply and calmly she turned to 
them. 

At fir^ Jesus spoke very lovingly with His 
disciples, but after some time He grew earned and 
sorrowful. He said : "One of you is about to betray 
Me, one whose hand is with Mine on the table." At 
this mention of a traitor all the disciples became 
frightened. But the words of Jesus: *One whose 
hand is with Mine on the table,' or *whose hand dips 
with Mine into the dish,' did not reveal Judas to the 
others. For these words were in common use as 
expressions of loving familiarity. It was as if Jesus 
had said: *One of the twelve who are eating and 
drinking with Me,' *One with whom I am sharing My 
bread.' Yet the words were meant to warn Judas. 
And really in di^ributing the lettuce, the hand of 
Jesus and that of Judas were dipped into the same 
66 



The LaSl Supper. 



dish. Jesus continued : "Now indeed the Son of Man 
goeth, as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by 
whom the Son of Mcin shall be betrayed. It were 
better for him had he never been bom." 

At these words the Apoilles were very much 
alarmed, and one after another put the que^ion: 
"Lord, is it I ?" For all knew well that they had not 
underwood Him fully. Peter, who was behind Jesus, 
bent over towards John, and gave him a sign to ask 
Our Lord who it was. For Peter, so often rebuked 
by Jesus, was extremely afraid it might be himself. 
Now John lay to the right of Jesus. Thus, as all at 
table re^ed on the left arm and ate with the right, 
John's head was neare^ to the brea^ of Jesus. So 
he brought his head quite close to the brea^ of Jesus 
and asked: "Lord, who is it?" He was given to 
understand that it was Judas. I did not see Jesus 
say with His lips : "He to whom I shall give the morsel 
I am dipping." Neither do I know whether He whis- 
pered to John. But John understood who it was, 
when Jesus took a lettuce-wrapped morsel of bread, 
dipped it into the sauce, and handed it very lovingly 
to Judeis, who w^as juSl asking: "Lord, is it I?" — 
whereupon Jesus looked at him full of love and an- 
swered him in general terms. The sign Jesus had 
used was a common expression of love and familiarity, 
and Jesus used it with heartfelt affedtion, to warn 
Judas and Still not reveal him to the others. Judas 
did not change outwardly, but inwardly he grew 
furious. During the entire meal I saw sitting at his 
feet a horrible little figure, that frequenty crept up to 
his heart. I did not see John tell Peter what he had 

67 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 

learned from Jesus, but he gave Peter a look that \ 
calmed his fears. | 

The Washing of the Feet. 

They now rose from table, put on again their 
ordinary garments and arranged them as was their \ 
cu^om for solemn prayer. In the meantime the chief i 
Reward came in with two servants to clean the Paschal 
table and move it away from the surrounding benches \ 
to one side. This done, Jesus ordered him to have 
water brought to the entrance-hall, and he left the 
room with the servants. j 

Jesus was now landing in the mid^ of His I 
disciples, and spoke to them quite a while earne^ly 1 
and solemnly. I recall that He spoke of His Kingdom, 
of His going to His Father, and said that He would I 
leave them all He had, etc. He also gave them ; 
in^rudtions on Penance, on confession of sin, on 
sorrow and ju^ification. I felt that He w£is referring 
to the washing of the feet, and I saw that all, Judas '[ 
excepted, acknowledged their sins and were sorry for ! 
them. When His long and solemn address was ended, j 
Jesus sent John and James the Less to the entrance- j 
hall to fetch the water He had ordered, and told the j 
other Apo^les to arrange the benches in a half-circle. \ 
Then He went to the entrance-hall, laid aside His j 
tunic, put on an apron, girded Himself with a towel, 
letting one end hang down. 

Meanwhile a kind of dispute had arisen among^ 
the Apo^les as to who would have the fir^ place. For 
our Lord's definite words that He was going to leave i 
them and that His Kingdom was near, had ^rength- j 
68 



The Washing of the Feet. 



ened them in the notion that He was going to surprise 
them at the la^ moment by some earthly triumph. 

In the entrance-hall, Jesus ordered John to take 
a basin in his hands, and James the Less to carry 
before his brea^ a leathern-bottle, so that the neck 
would extend out over his arm. Jesus poured water 
from the bottle into the basin, and told the two Apos- 
tles to follow Him into the Supper Room, in the cen- 
ter of which the chief Reward had placed a large 
empty basin. 

In such humble guise did Jesus enter the Supper 
Room. He spoke a few words of rebuke to the 
Apostles for disputing. He was their servant, they 
should sit down on the benches that He might wash 
their feet. They sat down, therefore, in the Scime 
order as at supper, on the cushions on which they 
sat at table. Jesus went to one of the Apostles, 
dipped water with the hollow of His hand from the 
basin held by John, and poured it on his outstretched 
feet. Then He grasped the towel wherewith He was 
girded in both hands, £ind wiped the feet till they were 
dry. Then accompanied by James He approached 
the next Apostle. John emptied the water just used, 
into the vessel in the middle of the room, and came 
back with the basin to Our Lord. From the bottle 
carried by James Jesus again poured water over the 
Apo^les' feet and dried them as before, while John 
caught the water in his basin and again emptied it 
into the large vessel in the center. 

Jesus rendered this humble service to His Apos- 
tles with the greatest love, with the same affectionate 
tenderness that had marked Him during the entire 

69 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



Paschal Supper. He did not seem to be performing 
a ceremony, but to be doing an adl of holy love. It 
came diredlly from His Heart, and made Him speak 
loving words to the Apo^les while He washed their 
feet. 

When He came to Peter, Peter humbly resided, 
saying : "Lord, is it rightjor Thee to wash my feet?" 
And Our Lord said : "What I do, thou knowe^ not 
now, but thou shalt know hereafter." And He went 
on speaking, as it were to Peter privately, "Simon, 
thou ha^ merited to learn from My Father who I 
am, whence I come, and whither I go. All this thou 
alone did^ recognize and pronounce. And I will 
build My Church upon thee, and the gates of Hell 
shall not prevail again^ it. And My power will be 
with thy successors until the end of the world." Jesus 
pointed to Peter, and said to the others, that Peter 
should take His place in giving commands and in 
sending them to preach when He should be gone 
from them. But Peter said : "Never shalt Thou wash 
my feet." And Our Lord answered : "Unless I wash 
thee, thou shalt have no part in Me." And Peter 
said : "Then, Lord, wash not only my feet, but also 
my hands and my head." Jesus answered : "He that 
is washed is wholly clean, and needeth but to wash 
his feet. And you are clean, but not all." In these 
la^ words He referred to Judas. 

In His in^rudlion before the ceremony He had 
said that the washing of the feet Wcis a cleansing from 
smaller sins which they committed daily, ju^ as by a 
careless ^ep they often soiled their feet while walking. 

So the ceremony had a spiritual meaning and 

70 



The Washing of the Feet. 



effedl; it was a kind of absolution. But in his zeal 
Peter thought Our Lord Wcis humbling Himself too 
deeply. He did not know that, for love of him, Jesus 
was going to humble Himself on the morrow to the 
shameful death on the Cross. 

While washing the feet of Judas, Jesus was 
beyond measure tender and affed:ionate. He lovingly 
pressed His sacred face to the traitor's feet, and 
whispered to him to take warning, since for a year 
pa^ he had been thinking the thoughts of a traitor. 
But Judas did not wish to li^en, and talked to John 
in^ead. At this Peter became angry and exclaimed ; 
"Judas, the Ma^er is speaking to thee." Then Judas 
gave Jesus a vague evasive answer, equivalent to : 
"Ma^er, heaven forbid." 

Now the others had not understood what Jesus 
said to Judas. Jesus spoke in a low tone, and they 
were engaged in putting on their sandals. But noth- 
ing that He suffered during the entire Passion caused 
Jesus such pain as the treason of Judas. — Finally He 
washed the feet of John and James. James sat down 
fir^, and Peter held the bottle, then John sat down 
while James held the basin. 

Hereupon Jesus spoke to them about humility. 
He saiid that he who serves moil is the greate^; that 
from now oh they should in all humility wash one 
another's feet; and many other things that we read 
in the Gospel concerning their dispute as to who was 
the greatest. Then He put on again the garments 
He had laid aside. The Apo^les, too, had let their 
garments, which had been girded up for the Paschal 
Supper, hang down once more full and long. 

71 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Institution of the Blessed Sacrament. 

At the command of Our Lord the chief Reward 
had again prepared the table. He had raised it some- 
what, and covered it with a heavy hanging, over which 
was spread, fir^ a red table cloth, then one of white 
lace. The table was moved again to the center, and 
under it the chief Reward placed one urn of water 
and another of wine. 

Peter and John now proceeded to the closet at 
the end of the room, where the Paschal hearth ^ood, 
brought forth the chalice which they had carried from 
the house of Seraphia, and placed it before Jesus. 

To break bread and di^ribute it, and to drink in 
common from one chalice at the close of the meal, 
was a sign of fraternal love and union that had been 
in vogue from olden times, on occasions when friends 
separated or were reunited. I think there is some- 
thing about it in Holy Scripture. But today Jesus 
raises and transforms this cu^om into the Mo^ Bles- 
sed Sacrament. Until now it had been but a type 
and figure. 

Jesus sat between Peter and John. The doors 
were shut, everything very silent and solemn. When 
the covering had been taken from the chalice and 
carried back to the closet, Jesus said a prayer and 
spoke very solemnly. I saw that He was explaining 
to them the celebration of the La^ Supper. It looked 
like one prie^ teaching others to say Mass. 

From the board on which the vessels stood, Jesus 
now drew out a kind of shelf, and spread over it the 
linen cloth which He took off the chalice. I saw Him 
72 



IniHtution of the Blessed Sacrament 

take a round plate off the chalice, and lay it on the 
cloth. Then He took the thin loaves of unleavened 
bread that lay covered in the dish nearby, and placed 
them on the plate before Him. These loaves were 
four-cornered and radier long, and their ends reached 
out beyond the plate, which was not flat but curved 
higher towards the rim. Then He drew the chalice 
nearer, took out of it a smaller vase, and ranged to the 
right and to the left the six cups that ^ood round the 
chalice. He blessed the unleavened bread, and it 
seemed to me also the oils that ^ood near, raised in 
both hands the paten with the loaves, looked up to 
Heaven, prayed, offered, replaced it on the table and 
covered it. Hereupon He took the chalice, let Peter 
pour in wine and John water, which He fir^ blessed, 
and dipped with the smaller spoon a little more water 
into the chalice. He now blessed the chalice, and 
raised it on high with a prayer, as He had the paten, 
and set it down again. 

He now held His hands over the plate on which 
the unleavened loaves had lain, and Peter and John 
poured water over them. With the spoon which He 
had taken out of the base of the chalice, Jesus poured 
water over their hands, some of this water that had 
flowed over His hands, whereupon the vase was 
passed from one to another and all washed their 
hands therein. I do not know whether everything 
happened ju^ in this order, but the whole scene 
reminded me Wrongly of Holy Mass, and I watched it 
with deep enotion. 

With each action Jesus seemed to become more 
tender and loving. He wished to give them every- 

73 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 

thing, all that He had, all that He was; and while ; 
saying the words. He seemed to melt in love and j 
pour Himself out on them. He seemed to be trans- ] 
parent, until He looked like a luminous shadow. | 

Thus, burning with love He went on praying, and 
broke the bread, along the lines previously marked 
out, into particles, which He laid on the paten, one on \ 
top of the other. With His finger-tips He broke a j 
small portion from the fir^ particle, and let it fall \ 
into the chalice. 

In the moment He did this I had a vision, as if i 
the Blessed Virgin were receiving the Sacrament, ; 
although she was not present in this room. I do not : 
know now how I saw it, but she seemed to float ! 
through the open space between the benches opposite j 
Our Lord and receive the Blessed Sacrament — then i 
I could see her no longer. He had told her that j 
morning in Bethania that He would keep the Pasch J 
with her spiritually, and had fixed this hour for her to \ 
be absorbed in prayer and receive in spirit. 

Again He prayed and taught. The words came 
like fire and light from His lips and entered into the 
Apo^les — into all except Judas. And now He took | 
the paten with the particles — I do not know whether 
He had fir^ laid it on the chalice or not — and said: 
"Take ye and eat, this is My Body, which is given 
for you." While saying these words He moved His hand 
as if in blessing over the particles. And whil^ He did 
this, a radiance went forth from Him, His words were \ 
luminous, and the bread seemed to all light as it dart- | 
ed into the mouths of the Apo^les. it seemed that i 
Jesus Himself was flowing into them. They were all 
74 i 

i 



Institution of the Blessed Sacrament. 



radiant with light, Judas alone I saw in darkness. 
Jesus gave the Blessed Sacrament fir^ to Peter, next 
to John. Then He nodded to Judas, who sat opposite 
to Him, to approach. So Judas was the third to re- 
ceive. But the words of Jesus seemed to turn aside 
and spring back from the mouth of the traitor. I was 
so horrified that I cannot express clearly what I then 
felt. But Jesus said to him : "What thou wilt do, do 
quickly." Jesus then gave the Blessed Sacrament to 
the other Apostles. They approached two and two, 
and each in turn held under the chin of his companion 
a smeJl stiff cover with a rim, that had lain on the 
chalice. 

Jesus now grasped the chalice by the two clasps, 
lifted it towards His face, and spoke the words of 
consecration. During this action He was all transfig- 
ured and transparent. He was transforming Himself 
into what He gave. He held the chalice in His hands, 
and let Peter and John drink out ot it. He set the 
chalice down, and John took the small spoon and 
dipped the Sacred Blood out of the chalice into the 
small cups. Peter handed the cups to the other 
Apo^les, who drank from them, two from each cup. 
Judas, too, though I cannot recall this with certitude, 
partook of the chalice; but instead of returning to his 
place, he at once left the Supper Room. Since Jesus 
had given him a sign, the other Apo^les thought he 
v/as off about some business. He went away without 
prayer, without giving thanks. That shows what an 
evil thing it is to go away without thanksgiving either 
from our daily bread or from our Everla^ing Bread. 
All during mealtime I had seen, sitting at the feet of 

75 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



JudaSy and sometimes creeping up to his heart, a 
small red figure of horrible appearance, its single foot 
resembling a dried bone. Now when he closed the 
door behind him, I saw around him three devils. One 
entered into his mouth, one drove him from behind, 
and one ran on ahead of him. It was dark, and it 
looked like they were making light for him, as he 
rushed on like a madman. 

Our Lord poured what remained of the Sacred 
Blood in the chalice into the small vase that He had 
taken out of the chalice. He placed His fingers over 
the chalice, and Peter and John poured wine and water 
on them. He let the two Apo^les again drink from 
the chalice, pour what remained into the small cups, 
and give it to the other Apo^les. Our Lord purified 
the chalice, put into it the vase containing what 
remained of the Sacred Blood, laid on it the paten with 
the remaining particles of the consecrated Bread, 
covered it with the lid, wrapped it in the cloth, and 
pushed it back on its shelf, among the small cups. 
After the Resurredtion I saw the Apo^les consume 
what remained of the Blessed Sacrament. 

It seems to me Our Lord Himself did not receive. 
If He did, I mu^ have overlooked it. When He gave 
the Blessed Sacrament He seemed to me to be 
emptied as it were, to be poured out in mercy and 
love. All this is unspeakably myilerious. Neither 
did I see Melchisedech, when he offered bread and 
wine, himself partake of the sacrifice. I also knew 
the reason why prie^s receive at Mass, though Jesus 
did not. 

While saying these la^ words, she looked around 

76 



Private In§lru6lions and Consecration. 



suddenly, as if likening. She received an answer on 
the matter, but was able to make known only what 
follows : "If angels had to distribute it, they would not 
receive. But if prie^ would not receive, it would 
long since have been loit. By their receiving it is 
preserved." 

All the adlions of Jesus during the in^itution of 
the Blessed Sacrament were deliberate and solemn, 
and He continually explained their meaning to the 
Apo^les. Afterwards I saw the Apo^les making 
notes of what had taken place on the rolls of parchment 
which they carried with them. His turnings right and 
left were slow and solemn, as they always were in 
liturgical adlions. Everything indicated the bud whose 
development would be Holy Mass. I saw the Apo^les 
too, when they approached the table, bow to one 
another like prices. 

Private Instructions and Consecration. 

Jesus now in^rudled the Apo^les further, partic- 
ularly in the my^eries of the Blessed Sacrament. He 
told them how to preserve It in commemoration of 
Him till the end of the world, how to handle and 
di^ribute It, how to make Its my^eries known grad- 
ually, when they were to consume what now remained, 
when to communicate the Blessed Virgin, and when, 
after they received the Holy Gho^, they themselves 
were to consecrate. 

Then He expounded the prie^hood, the sacred 
undlion, the prepciration of chrism and the holy oils. 
Near the chalice and its belongings were, besides 
some cotton, three small cases, filled, one with one 

77 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



kind of balm, one with another kind, and one with 
oil. These cases could be placed one on top of the 
other. He gave them many in^rudtions in these 
my^eries — how to mix the ointments, on what parts 
of the body to use them, and on what occasions. I 
remember among other things, that He mentioned 
one case in which the Blessed Sacrament could not 
be given. It had reference perhaps to Extreme Unc- 
tion; but it is no longer clearly before my mind. 

Hereupon I saw Him anoint Peter and John, the 
two Apo^les upon whose hands He had poured the 
water that flowed over His own during the in^itution 
of the Blessed Sacrament, and for whom He had with 
His own hands held the chalice to drink. 

He Pepped back from the middle of the table 
somewhat to one side, and laid His hands, firil on 
their shoulders, then on their heads. Then He made 
them join their hands and cross their thumbs. They 
bowed low before Him, I do not know whether they 
knelt or not, and Jesus anointed their thumbs and 
fore fingers with the holy oil, and made with it the 
Sign of the Cross on their heads. This power, He 
told them, should remain with them to the end of the 
world. Also James the Less, Andrew, James the 
Greater, were consecrated. I saw Jesus take a kind 
of narrow itole, which Peter, like the other Apoilles, 
wore round his neck, and cross it over his brea^ while 
for the others He let it reil on the right shoulder and 
fall across the body till the two ends were united 
under the left arm. I do not know for sure, though, 
whether He did this at the in^itution of the Blessed 
Sacrament or now at the anointing. 
78 



Private In^Tudtions and Consecration. 



I saw, — how cannot be explained — that Jesus 
by this anointing produced something that really was 
part of their own souls and itill was supernatural. 
After receiving the Holy Gho^, so He told them, they 
were to consecrate bread and wine and anoint the 
other Apo^les. At the same time I had a vision, and 
saw how Peter and John fir^ laid hands on the other 
Apo^les, before baptizing the multitude on Penteco^, 
and how they did the same a week later for severed 
disciples. I also sav/ John give Communion to the 
Blessed Virgin for the firil time after the Resurrection. 
The Apo^les had a fe^ival in honor of this event. 
The Church Militant no longer has this fea^, but I 
see it ^ill celebrated in the Church Triumphant. In 
the fir^ days cifter Penteco^ ! saw only Peter and 
John consecrate the Blessed Sacrament. Later on 
also the others consecrated. 

All that Jesus did in in^ituting the Blessed Sac- 
rament and in anointing the Apo^les was done very 
secretly, and continued to be taught only in private. 
The Church today has essentially the same rites that 
Jesus used, only that she has developed them some- 
what under the guidance of the Holy Ghoit to meet 
new needs. 

Sister Catherine forgot to say whether both Peter 
and John were consecrated bishops, or Peter alone^ 
and to mention what degree of dignity the other four 
received. That Our Lord put the ^ole on Peter in a 
different manner from the others seems to indicate 
different degrees of consecration. 

When the sacred rites were ended, the chalice, 
near which stood the consecrated oils, was put into 

79 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



its case, and thus Peter and John carried the Blessed 
Sacrament into the closet at the end of the room,, 
separated from the main portion by a curtain that 
opened in the middle. This little closet was now the 
Holy of Holies. The Blessed Sacrament stood behind 
and somewhat above the Paschal hearth. In the 
absence of the Apostles Joseph of Arimathea and 
Nicodemus guarded this sanctuary and the Supper 
Room. 

Jesus now spoke to the Apostles at great length 
and said many prayers, all with intense devotion. 
Often He seemed as if speaking with His Heavenly 
Father. He was filled to overflowing with fervor and 
love. The Apostles too were full of joy and zeal, and 
asked Him various questions which He anwered. 

Now and again He spoke of His betrayer, that 
now he did this, now that — and I saw at each time 
just what Judas was doing at the moment. Peter was 
particularly zealous, promising Our Lord to remain 
most surely faithful to Him. Jesus said: "Simon, 
Simon ! Satan longs to have you. He would sift you 
like wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith 
may not fail. And when thou art entirely converted, 
then strengthen thy brethren." When Jesus said that 
whither He was going they could not follow, Peter 
answered that he would follow Him to death. Jesus 
answered : "Amen, before the cock crow twice, thou 
shalt deny Me thrice." He reminded them of the 
trying time that was awaiting them, and asked : "When 
I sent you forth without purse, or scrip, or shoes, did 
you suffer want ?" They said : "No." Then He said 
for everyone who had purse and scrip to take them, 
80 



Private Instructions and Consecration. 



and he who had nothing to take his coat and buy him- 
self a sword, for now must be fulfilled the saying : 
*And with the wicked was He reckoned.' All that was 
written of Him, was now to be completed. 

They underhand His words in a carnal sense, 
and Peter showed Him two swords, short and broad, 
something like a butcher's axe. 

Jesus said: "It is enough. Let us go hence." 
They recited the hymn of thanksgiving, moved the 
table to one side, and went to the entrance-hall. 

His Mother, and Mary, mother of Cleophas, and 
Magdalen came to meet Him here, and besought Him 
eame^ly not to go to the Mount of Olives, since a 
report was abroad that He was to be taken captive. 
Jesus spoke a few words of comfort, and passed on 
quickly through their mid^. It mu^ have been about 
nine o'clock. They Parted for Mount Olivet at a rapid 
pace, taking the road by which Peter and John had 
come up that morning to the Supper Room. 

It is true, I always saw the Paschal Fea^ and the 
in^tution of the Blessed Sacrsmient ju^ £is I have 
now described. But on other occasions I yielded so 
much to my feelings, that I could see clearly only parts 
of the celebration. This time I have had a clearer 
vision. But it co^ unspeakable exertion. For I see 
into each heart, I see the love, the constancy and 
faithfulness of Our Lord, and know everything that 
mu^ yet come, so that it is altogether impossible to 
pay close attention to all outward adtions. I feel 
myself melted into wonderment, gratitude, and love, 
cannot realize how men are so blind, and feel my own 
sins and the ingratitude of the whole world. — Jesus 

81 

*6 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



ate the Paschal Iamb quickly, and itri<aly according to 
the Law. The Pharisees added here and there some 
ceremonies that were unnecessary. 

Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

Jesus had been sorrowful in soul even when 
leaving the Supper Room, and was now growing ever 
more sorrowful. He led the Eleven to the Mount of 
Olives by a roundabout way through the Valley of 
Josaphat. Ju^ as they came to the gate of the city, 
I saw the moon, not yet quite full, rising behind the 
mountain. Whil^ walking with His disciples in the 
Valley of Josaphat, our Lord said that He would 
come on that Day to judge the world. But He would 
not come poor and powerless as He now was. Others 
would then be afraid and would cry out : Ye moun- 
tains, cover us! His disciples did not underhand 
Him. They thought, as they often thought that 
evening, that He was wandering in mind from weak- 
ness and exhau^ion. They would walk a while, then 
they would ^and ^ill and converse with Him. Once 
He said : "You will all be scandalized in Me tonight. 
For it is written : I will ^rike the Shepherd and the 
sheep of the fold shall be scattered. But when I shall 
have risen, I will go before you into Galilee." 

The Apo^les were ^ill overflowing with feelings 
of devotion and enthusiasm enkindled by the recep- 
tion of the Mo^ Blessed Sacrament and the loving, 
solemn words of Jesus in the Supper Room. They 
pressed close to Him, expressing their love in various 

82 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

ways, and assuring Him they never could or would 
abandon Him. As Jesus continued in the same 
strain, Peter said : "And if all should be scandalized 
in Thee, yet will not I be scandalized." To this the 
Lord answered : "Amen, I say to thee, to-night before 
the cock crow, thou, ju^ thou, wilt deny Me thrice." 
But Peter would not give in at all, saying : "Even if 
I mu^ die with Thee, I will not deny Thee." The 
other Apoitles spoke in like manner. They contin- 
ued walking and landing by turns, while Jesus sank 
ever deeper into sorrow. They went on remon^rating 
cuid doing what they could to turn His thoughts in 
the opposite direction. But their ob^inacy was all in 
vain, and served but to weary them, to ca^ them 
into doubt and lead them into temptation. 

Since they had come by a roundabout way, the 
bridge by which they crossed the brook Cedron was 
not that over which Jesus was later dragged captive. 
Gethsemani on the Mount of Olives, the point to 
which they were going, is ju^ a half-hour's walk from 
the Supper Room. It takes a quarter of an hour to 
go from the Supper Room to the gate that opens on 
the Valley of Josaphat, and another qucirter from this 
gate to Gethsemani. Gethsemani is a plot of ground 
occupied by several lodge-houses, open and empty, 
and a large garden, surrounded by a fence and thickly 
sown with fine bushes and fruit-trees. The garden 
Wcis a resort for recreation or for prayer, and keys to 
it were held by many, also by the Apoilles. People 
without gardens of their own often came here for 
festivals and banquets. The Garden of Olives is di- 
vided by a road from the Garden of Gethsemani, and 

83 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 

lies higher up on the Mount of Olives. It ^ands 
open, surrounded only with a wall of earth, and is 
smaller than the Garden of Gethsemani. It is a 
retired mountain-nook with many caverns and terraces 
and olive-trees. One side is better cared for than the 
other. Seats and benches are kept in repair, and the 
caves are well swept and cool, and larger than on the 
other side. Whosoever will may here arrange a spot 
for prayer and meditation. Where Jesus went to 
pray the garden is somewhat wilder. 

"My Soul is Sorrowful Even unto Death." 

It was about nine o'clock when Jesus and His 
disciples reached Gethsemani. It was dark on earth 
but heaven was bright with moon-light. Jesus was 
very sad. He told His disciples that danger was near 
and His words filled them with fear. In the Garden 
of Gethsemzmi, where the foliage had been wound 
into a summer-house. He said to eight of them : "Stay 
you here, while I go to My place to pray." He took 
with Him Peter, and John, and James the Greater, 
crossed a road into the Garden of Olives, and followed 
for some minutes its upward slope along the base of 
the mountain. Tongue cannot tell the sadness He 
felt in the face of His on-coming Agony. John asked 
Him whence it came that He, who had always been 
their Consoler, was now Himself so overwhelmed 
with fear. Jesus answered: "My soul is sorrowful 
even unto death." He looked around and saw an- 
guish and temptation draw near Him on every side 
in the forms of clouds peopled with fearful visions. 
84 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



Here it was that He said to the three Apoilles : "Stay 
ye here and watch with Me. Pray, that you fall not 
into temptation." And they remained at this place. 

Jesus went on a little ways. But He felt such 
deep anguish under the visions of terror surging in 
upon Him that He turned down to the left out of the 
sight of His Apo^les and concealed Himself in a 
grotto. This grotto was about six feet deep and 
direAly under the overhanging shelf of ^one, on top 
of which, in a recess to the right, the Apoitles had 
taken their positions. The floor of the cave sank 
gently inwards, and from the overhanging rock, bushes 
hung down over the entrance in such abundance 
that no one could be seen from the outside. 

When Jesus was separating from His disciples, 
I saw round about Him a wide-spreading circle of 
terrible visions which was narrowing in upon Him 
more and more. His sadness and anguish grew 
deeper, and He shrank back into the grotto to pray, 
like a traveller who seeks refuge from a fearful ^orm. 
But I saw the threatening visions set after Him into 
the cave, and grow ever more and more di^indt. O 
God, that one cavern seemed to hold enclosed the 
torturing pictures of all sinful, soul-depressing, crying- 
to-Heaven abominations from the fall of the fir^ man 
to the consummation of the world. When Adam 
and Eve l^ft Paradise to dwell homeless upon the 
unfriendly earth, their fir^ re^ng-place was here on 
the Mount of Olives, and this very cavern was witness 
of their fears and sadness. 

I felt di^ndlly how Jesus was abandoning Him- 
self to His on-coming Agony, how He Wcis sacrificing 

85 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



Himself to Divine Ju^ice as propitiation for the sins 
of the world. I saw Him in consequence, draw back, 
as it were, with His Divinity into the Mo^ Blessed 
Trinity, thus leaving to His pure, true, innocent, deep- 
feeling humanity, only the love of His human Heart, 
wherewith to battle again^ the floods of torture 
poured in upon Him by the raging world of sin. To 
satisfy for sin and concupiscence, both in root and 
branch. He planted into His Heart the very root of 
purifying, sanctifying pain and sorrow, and let this 
infinite pain, the satisfadtion for infinite sin, grow and 
spread into a thousand-branched tree of sorrow, out 
through all the members of His holy body and all the 
feelings of His holy soul. 

Jesus Sees the Sins of the World 
in All Their Hideousness. 

Thus abandoned to His humanity. He fell pros- 
trate on the ground, while sending to God prayers of 
infinite pain and sadness. His eyes were upon the 
sins of the world around Him. In countless pictures 
He saw their inward hideousness, yet He took them 
all upon Himself, and presented Himself to the justice 
of His Heavenly Father in satisfaction for all this guilt. 
Meanwhile Satan, moving in fearful forms amid all 
these abominations, grew ever more violently bitter 
against Jesus, brought before His soul ever more ter- 
rible visions of sins, and cried again and again to His 
humanity : "What ! This too thou takest upon thyself ! 
For this too thou wilt suffer punishment ! How canst 
thou satisfy for this ?" 
86 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



But between ten and eleven o'clock there shone 
from the east a narrow pathway of light, reaching from 
Heaven down to Jesus, and along its course from on 
high down to Our Savior I saw a series of angels 
appear, from whom new strength streamed upon Him. 
Everywhere else the grotto was peopled with those 
abominable spe<5lers of sin and the mocking attacks 
of the evil spirits. Jesus took them all upon Himself. 
His Heart, the only heart that loved perfectly God and 
men, was horrified in gazing on this abomination of 
desolation, was racked with pain in supporting the 
weight of these mon^rosities. O God, I saw there 
more than I could express in a whole year ! 

Now that this volume of sin and guilt, this sea of 
fearful visions, had rolled in upon the soul of Our 
Savior and He had made Himself a sacrifice for it 
all and prayed all its pains down upon Himself — now 
it was that He had, as formerly in the desert, to en- 
dure all possible temptations of the Evil One. Satan 
went so fcur as to bring forward a series of accusations 
again^ the mo^ innocent Savior Himself. "What" 
he said, "Thou wilt take all this upon Thee, Thou who 
art not guiltless Thyself! Look here! And herei 
And here !" With these words he unrolled false ac- 
cusations of all kinds, and held them with hellish 
insolence under the eyes of Jesus. He made Our Lord 
responsible for all the faults of His disciples, for all 
the scandal they had given, for all the consternation 
and confusion which His departure from old-time 
customs had brought into the world. 

Satan argued like the most keen and captious 
Pharisee. He laid to Our Savior's charge the slaugh- 

87 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



ter of the Holy Innocents by Herod, the poverty and 
dangers of His parents in Egypt, the non-deliverance 
of John the Baptist from death, the disunion of many 
families, the protection extended to wicked men, the 
refusal to heal many sick persons, the damage done 
to the Gerasenes, since He had allowed men possessed 
by the devil to overturn their drinking-vessels * and 
had occasioned the loss of their herds and swine in 
the lake. He further laid to His charge the guilt of 
Mary Magdalen, since He had prevented her from 
falling back into sin. He accused Him of neglecting 
His own family and of wasting the goods of others. 
In a word, all the depressing sugge^ions which the 
Tempter would employ in order to make despair on 
his way to death any ordinary man, who without com- 
mand from on high would have done these deeds 
outwardly so extraordinary — all these suggestions 
Satan here brought before the trembling soul of Our 
Savior in order to crush Him. It was hidden from 
him that Jesus was the Son of God, and he tempted 
Our Savior only as a man who was most incompre- 
hensibly juit. 

Yes, Our Divine Savior abandoned Himself so 
utterly to His humanity as to let come over Him even 
that temptation which usally assails ordinary men who 
die a holy death, the temptation to doubt the inner 



* Besides the Passion Sister Catherine contemplated also the 
Public Life of Our Lord. On the 11th of December, 1822, while 
watching how Jesus allowed the devils to go out of the possessed 
Gerasenes into a herd of swine, she noticed the special circum- 
stance that those possessed had, before being relieved, overturned 
a large and heavy vessel of inebriating drink which the Gerasenes 
had standing in the neighborhood. 
88 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives, 



value of His good deeds. In order to exhaust the 
anticipated chalice of His Passion, He allowed the 
Tempter, from whom His Divinity was hidden, to re- 
present His deeds of benevolence as so many debts 
which He still owed to Divine Grace. How did He 
dare, so ran Satan's suggestion, how did He dare can- 
cel debts for others, while He was Himself without 
merit, and still God's debtor for such a number of 
so-called good works ? The Divinity of Jesus allowed 
Satan to tempt His humanity, just as he would tempt 
a man who would feel inclined to ascribe to his good 
works some peculiar value beyond that which they 
have from their union with the merits of the redeem- 
ing death of Our Lord and Savior. 

So the Tempter painted all Our Lord's works of 
love as debts towards God, and without merit in them- 
selves, their only value being derived from the merits 
of His not yet accomplished Passion. Thus Our Lord 
would still be in God's debt for the graces whereby He 
had performed these good deeds. And actually Satan 
showed Him notes He owed for them all. "For this 
deed, and this deed" so ran Satan's words "Thou art 
still in debt." — Finally he unrolled before Jesus a note 
which said that Our Lord had received from Lzizeurus 
and spent for Himself the price paid for Mary Mag- 
dalen's estate in Magdala. "How didst Thou dare to 
wa^e the goods of another and thus injure that 
family?" 

I saw the representations of all the sins for which 
Jesus was immolating Himself. Likewise I felt with 
Him the weight of many accusations made by the 
Tempter, since among those visions of the sins of the 

89 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



world assumed by Our Lord I saw also my own many 
sins, and therefrom flowed upon me from that circling 
mass of temptations a stream that torturingly painted 
before me all my faults of commission and omission. 
But as I suffered with my Heavenly Bridegroom, so 
also I continued to gaze upon Him, I struggled as He 
did, turned as He did to the consoling emgels. O God, 
how He writhed like a worm under His burden of 
sadness and pain ! 

"Abba, Father, if It Be Possible, Let This 
Chalice Pass from Me." 

All during these accusations again^ the mo^ holy 
and innocent Redeemer I felt such rage again^ Satan 
that only with the greater efforts could I control 
myself. But when he brought out that note for the 
price of Magdalen's e^ate, I could no longer restrain 
my zeal. "How dared he," I demanded, "put down 
the price of Magdalen's e^ate as a debt? Had I not 
seen with my own eyes how Jesus had made use of this 
sum, given to Him by Lazarus for purposes of charity, 
in order to release from the prison in Thirza twenty- 
seven poor people confined there for debt?" — At fir^ 
Jesus knelt and prayed quietly, but after a time His 
soul began to shrink back from the numberless sins 
cind hideous ingratitude of men towards God, and 
there fell upon Him such a grinding, crushing sadness 
and anguish of soul that He cried out; "Abba, 
Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me ! 
O My Father ! All things are possible to Thee ! Take 
this chalice from Me !" But immediately He gathered 
90 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



Himself again and said : "Nevertheless, not as I will 
but as Thou wilt." His will was one with the will of 
the Father, but out of love He had abandoned Him- 
self to the weaknesses of humanity, and thus He 
shrank back from death. 

The cave around Him I saw filled with shapes of 
terror. All sin, all malice, all vices, all suffering, all 
ingratitude, all the terrors of death, all human 
despondency, all the immense pain of expiation — all 
this in apparitions the mo^ gha^ly, I saw rage round 
Him and rush in upon Him. He fell from side to side. 
He wrung His hands, agonizing sweat covered His 
body. His whole frame shook and trembled. He rose 
to His feet, but His knees seemed scarcely to support 
Him. He weis so disfigured, with lips pale and hair 
dishevelled, as to be almost unrecognizable. 

Tw2is half pa^ ten when He arose. Still covered 
with sweat He went towards His disciples, not walking, 
but rather reeling and falling. He followed the path 
on the left up from and over the cave to the terrace. 
There He found His disciples on the ground, all lying 
in the same position, the head of one towards the 
brea^ of the other, each pillowed on his arm, all sunk 
in slumber through weariness and sadness and fear. 
What brought Jesus to them was the desire, on the 
one hand, to be consoled by friends in His afflidlion, 
on the other, to watch over their hour of fear and 
temptation — the Good Shepherd, Himself broken by 
sorrow, yet guarding His endangered flock. All 
along this short way I saw Him ^ill surrounded by 
those forms of horror. 



91 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



"Could Ye not Watch One Hour with Me?" 

On finding them asleep, He began to wring His 
hands. Then, broken with sadness and exhau^ion, 
He sank down beside them, saying : "Simon, thou 
sleepe^?" They awoke and helped Him to His feet. 
"Could you not," He cried in His forsakenness, "could 
you not watch even for one hour with Me?" They 
gazed at Him and knew not what to think. That 
horror-^ricken appearance, that pale face, that totter- 
ing frame. His garments bathed in sweat. His voice so 
worn and feeble — were it not for the well-known 
light enfolding Him they had not known Him for 
Jesus at all. 

"Ma^er," John said to Him, "what has befallen 
Thee? Shall I call the others? Shall we flee?" But 
Jesus answered : "Were I to live and teach and heal 
the sick for another three and thirty years it would not 
equal what I mu^ accomplish by tomorrow. No, 
call not the others. I left them yonder, because they 
could not see Me in such wretchedness without taking 
scandal. They would fall into temptation, would 
forget much I have said and done, and begin to doubt 
Me. But ye who have seen the Son of Man transfig- 
ured, ye may likewise behold Him in the dark hour of 
His eclipse and forsakenness. But watch ye and pray, 
that ye fall not into temptation. The spirit indeed is 
willing, but the flesh is weak." 

These la^ words are to be underwood both of 
the Apo^les and Our Savior. Jesus meant to en- 
courage them to perseverance and to make known to 
them the cause of His feebleness, namely, the battle 
92 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



of His human nature again^ death. He went on 
speaking to them in tones of deeped sadness. About 
a quarter-hour passed before He left them to return 
to the cave. His anguish was con^antly grov/ing 
deeper. As He left them the Apo^les Wretched their 
hands after Him, wept bitterly, and sank into one 
another's arms, saying: "What does it all mean? 
What is happening to Him ? How is He so utterly 
forscdcen?" Then they began to pray, their heads 
muffled, and their hearts affli<5led. — About an hour : 
and a half had now passed since Jesus had entered 
the Garden of Olives. 

The three Apo^les had begun to pray when 
Jesus left them the fir^ time. But words of doubt 
and di^lru^ led them into temptation, and thus they 
had fallen asleep. But the eight Apo^les at the 
entrance were not asleep. Our Savior's sadness of 
soul, con^antly apparent in all He said during the 
latter period of the evening, had ca^ them into a 
^ate of anxiety and restlessness, and they were now 
scattered along the sides of Mount Olivet seeking for 
places of refuge. 

The Mother of Jesus. 

There wcis but little excitement in Jerusalem this 
evening. The Jews were indoors, making preparations 
for the festival. The quarters for pilgrims were not in 
the neighborhood of Mount Olivet. As I made my 
way back and forth along the roads, I saw here and 
there disciples and friends of Jesus walking and talk- 
ing with one another . They seemed to be anxious 
and full of expectancy. The Mother of Jesus had left 

93 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



the Supper Room in company with Magdalen, Martha, 
Mary of Cleophas, Mary Salome, and Salome herself, 
and with them had gone to the house of Mary, the 
mother of Mark. Troubled by the reports she here 
heard, she had come out with her friends to the paths 
outside the city to seek for news of Jesus. 

Here now they were joined by Lazarus, Nicode- 
mus, Joseph of Arimathea, and some relatives from 
Hebron. The latter tried to calm the great anxiety 
of the women. They knew, it is true, how earne^ly 
Jesus had spoken in the Supper Room. Some had 
learned this by personal presence in adjacent build- 
ings, some in conversation with His Apo^les. But 
they had made inquiries of some well-known Phari- 
sees, and had not heard that any diredl attempts were 
being made again^ Our Savior. So they said that 
there was as yet no great danger, that before the fes- 
tival there would be no effort made to capture Him. 
But they knew nothing of the treason of Judas. Mary 
told them how worried and excited he had been the 
la^ few days, how he had left the Supper Room, that 
she had often admonished him, that he was a son of 
perdition. Thereupon the holy women returned to 
the house of Mary of Mark. 



Jesus Suffers to Satisfy for Sin. 

Jesus came back into the cave, and all His sad- 
ness Ccime with Him. He ca^ Himself face-downwards 
on the ground, Wretched out His arms and prayed to 
His Heavenly Father. And now before the eyes of 
His soul there began a new battle, which la^ed three 
94 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



quarters of an hour. Angels came near, and let pass 
before Him a long series of visions, showing Him the 
sins He was to suffer for and what He was to suffer 
for them. They showed Him man before the fall, in 
all the glory of the time when he was ^ill the image 
of God, and the same man eifter the fall, in all his 
ugliness and degradation. They let Him see how all 
sin flowed from that fir^ sin. They represented to 
Him the meaning and nature of concupiscence, its 
fearful effedls on the powers of man's soul and the 
members of his body, and the nature and meaning 
of the sufferings man has to undergo in punishment. 

They went on to pidture to Our Savior His own 
sufferings : How He would have to satisfy God's ju^ 
anger at the sinful deeds and desires of all mankind. 
How He, the Son of God, would have to take the 
guilt of all men upon His own absolutely guiltless 
humanity, would have to conquer in Himself the fear 
and dislike which all men have of suffering and death. 

In showing these visions the angels appeared, 
now in choirs with long rows of pictures, now singly 
each with a principal scene. I saw their forms con- 
^antly pointing to the on-coming pidlures, and 1 
underwood what they said though I did not hear their 
voices. 

Tongue cannot say what pain and terror the soul 
of Jesus felt in gcizing on these visions. He realized 
the full meaning of His sufferings. He did not suffer 
for sin itself merely. He felt likewise the touch of 
each and every in^rument, from the sinful rage of 
those who had invented it, from the cruel malice of 
all who had ever used it, from the impatience of all 

95 



1 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. | 

who had been, either ju^ly or unju^ly, tortured by it. 
All the sins of the whole world were laid upon Him. i 
In the inner vision of His soul He felt them all so ■ 
fearfully that His body bur^ into a bloody sweat. \ 

■i 

The Angels Long to Console Jesus. \ 

While the humanity of Our Savior was thus sunk 
in sadness and fear I saw the angels feel compassion i 
for Him. There was a short pause. They seemed \ 
to long to console Him, and I saw them beseeching 
before the throne of God. There seemed to be a 
struggle between the Mercy and Justice of God on the 
one hand and the love that was sacrificing itself on the 
other. At the same time I saw a pid:ure of God, not i 
on a throne, as I usually saw Him, but as a figure of 
light I saw the Divine Nature of the Son sinking, as 
it were, into the bosom of His Father, and from them 
and between them the person of the Holy Gho^, and j 
still 'twas only One God. Who can express such a ! 
my^ery? I had rather an inner feeling of it than a I 
vision through human forms. In that feeling I saw j 
how the Divine Will of Chri^ drew back, as it were, I 
into His Father in order to let His humanity suffer > 
ju^ what His anguished human will was ^ruggling and j 
beseeching to have turned aside. His Divinity, one 
with the Father, laid upon His humanity juit what 
His humanity begged His Father to let pass from 
Him. I saw all this at the moment when the angels 
were moved to compassion and wished to console 
Our Savior. He really felt at that moment some : 
alleviation. But now these visions were extinguished, \ 
96 



Jesus in the Garden of OUves. 



the angels with their sympathy and consolation went 
away hrom Our Lord, and a new circle of terrors 
closed in upon His soul. 

Whilst Our Savior, as real and true man, was 
delivering Himself over to be tempted by man's fear 
and dislike of suffering and death, whilst He was tak- 
ing upon Himself the task of conquering his repug- 
nance which is an element of all suffering, the Tempter 
was allowed to treat Him as He treats every man who 
would sacrifice himself for a holy cause. In bitter 
mockery he put before Our Savior's eyes the fearful 
debt of sin. He was about to take on Himself. He 
went so far as to brand the life of Our Savior Him- 
self as not entirely free from guilt. After this Our 
Savior was once more shown, in the full bitterness 
of its inner truth, the immensity of His sufferings for 
men. Satan is not going to show that reconciliation 
is possible. The father of lies and of despair is not 
going to point to the works of divine mercy. 

What is He to Gain by Suffering? 

Now that Jesus, bound fa^ with heart and soul to 
the will of His Heavenly Father, had gone victoriously 
through all these battles, a new circle of fearful visions 
of terror was set in motion before His inner eye. The 
que^ion that knocks at every human heart on the 
eve of sacrifice, the queilion : What will be the result 
of this immolation? What will I gain by it? — this 
que^on rose up in the soul of Our Redeemer and 
flashings from a terrible future formed again^ His 
loving Heart 

97 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. | 

Upon the firSt Adam God let fall a deep sleep, i 

then opened his side, took one of his ribs, and built j 
thereof a woman. Eve, the mother of all the living, 

and led her to Adam. And Adam said: "This is \ 

bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Therefore j 

shall a man leave father and mother and cling to his I 

wife, and they shall be two in one flesh." ] 

Thus was in^ituted matrimony, of which it is \ 
written: "This is a great sacrament, but I say in j 
Chri^ and the Church." For Chri^, the new Adam, 
also willed to have a sleep come over Him, the sleep 
of death upon the cross; willed to have His side | 
opened that out of it might come forth the new Eve, 
His virgin Spouse, the Church, the Mother of all the 
living; willed to give her the blood of redemption, the j 
water of purification, and His own spirit, the three \ 
things that give te^imony on earth; willed to be^ow 
upon her the holy sacraments that she might be a j 
worthy Spouse, holy, pure and unspotted; willed Him- 
self to be her head, us to be her members, thus making 
us bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; willed to ; 
leave father and mother by becoming man to die for ] 
us, and to cling to His Spouse and become one flesh ; 
with her by nourishing her with the Mo^ Holy Sacra- 
ment of the Altar; willed by the same holy Sacrament i 
to espouse to Himself also us her children, and thus 
to be with her on earth till we should all be with Him i 
in HeEiven, for "the gates of Hell shall not prevail 
again^ her." Twas this boundless love for sinful ; 
mankind, this desire to take upon Himself the pun- j 
ishment for all their guilt, that led Our Lord to become | 
man and brother to sinners. And though a sadness 
98 \ 

i 
j 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



unto death had come over Him from the vision of 
their guilt and His Passion, yet had He joyfully 
delivered Himself up to the will of His Heavenly 
Father as a sacrifice of expiation. 

Jesus Sees the Coming Sufferings of the Church. 

But now He beheld the Church, His Spouse, 
suffering under the wounds which the ingratitude of 
men were to inflidt upon her. Before His soul ^ood 
out clearly the sufferings of His Apo^les, disciples 
and friends during the infancy of the Church, then 
the heresies and schisms that attended her as she 
grew and expanded, the pride and disobedience, all 
the forms of vanity and delusive self-ju^ification, that 
once more made men fall away from her as they had 
from God in Paradise. He saw the lukewarmness, 
malice and corruption of countless Chri^izins, the 
manifold lies of so many proud teachers, the blasphe- 
mous crimes of all bad prices. He saw the conse- 
quences of all this, the abomination of desolation in 
the kingdom of God upon earth, in the sandluary of 
ungrateful mankind, which with unspecikable pain 
He was about to buy and build at the co^ of His 
blood and life. 

In an endless succession of visions, from all 
centuries down to our own times, and on to the end 
of the world, I saw all these scandals pass before the 
soul of suffering Jesus — all forms and varieties of 
feeble presumption, browbeating deceit, fanatical 
extravagance, false prophecy, heretical ob^nacy and 
msilice. Apo^ates, self-ju^ifiers, heretics and hyp- 

99 



■The Passion of Jesus Chri§l, 



ocritical reformers, corrupters and corrupted, all 
mocked and tortured Him, as though He was not yet 
crucified to their ta^e, not yet nailed to the Cross in 
such fcishion as would suit their concupiscence and 
pride. They tore in pieces and divided among them- 
selves the seamless garment of His Church, each 
trying to make the Redeemer something else than 
His loving self. Countless was the number of those 
who maltreated Him, mocked Him, denied Him. 
Countless the number of those whom He saw pass by 
Him with proud shake of head, and shrug of shoul- 
ders, pass by to sink into the abyss of perdition while 
He ^ood there with arms out^retched to save. 

Countless others He saw who did not dare deny 
Him openly, but who passed by His bleeding Church, 
nauseated at the wounds, which they themselves had 

>- struck her. They were like the Levite passing by the 
poor man who fell among robbers. They were like 
cowardly, faithless children whose wicked ways have 
opened an entrance for thieves and murderers into 
the house of their mother, who, when the moment of 
danger comes, abandon their mother, and follow the 
rufHans into the desert, whither the latter are bearing 
away their booty, the golden vessels and tattered laces 

L they have stolen. They were like branches cut off 
from the true vine, and now keeping company with 
wild fruit trees. They were like lo^ sheep, left to the 
mercy of the wolves but unwilling to go into the fold 
of the Good Shepherd, who had given His life for His 
sheep. They were like exiles, wandering homeless 
upon earth, yet unwilling to lift their eyes to the City 
on the hill that could not be hidden. 
100 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



He saw them driven by the winds back and forth 
across the sand-waves of the desert, one disagreeing 
with the other, yet none willing to look towards the 
house of His Bride, the Church built upon the Rock, 
which He had promised to be with all days to the 
consummation of the world and againit which the 
gates of Hell were never to prevail. They would not 
enter at the nzurrow gate, did not want to bend their 
proud necks. They followed those who went in by 
another way and not at the door. They built huts 
upon the sand; huts that differed one from the other 
and were con^antly changing, without altar or sacri- 
fice, with dodtrines that shifted like the weather-cocks 
on their roofs. They contradicted one another, mis- 
under^ood one another, and had no abiding dwelling- 
place. Again and again they tore down their huts 
and hurled the fragments again^ the immovable 
comer^one of the Church. 

Many He saw leave their huts for fear of the 
darkness that reigned in them. But these in^ead of 
following the light that burnt upon the candle-^ick 
in the house of the Bride, began to wander with closed 
eyes round and round the garden of the Church, to 
whose fragrant odors they owed what little life they 
had left They fetched out their arms to hazy 
phantoms, and followed wandering ^ars that led them 
to wells without water. Ever on the verge of the 
abyss they would not li^en to the voice of the Bride, 
and, hungry though they were, smiled in their pride 
a smile of pity upon the servants and messengers 
who were sent to invite them to the marriage-feait. 
They feared the thorns in the garden fence. Drunk 

101 



The Passion of Jesus ChriR. 



with self-e^eem, they refused the wheat that would 
^11 their hunger, and the wine that would quench 
their thir^. Blinded by the light of their own reason, 
they determined that the Church of the Incarnate 
Word mu^ be invisible. Jesus saw them all, mourned 
over them all, offered Himself to suffer for them all — 
for those who will not see Him, who refuse to carry 
their cross after Him, who refuse to belong to His 
Bride, to whom He has given Himself in the Mo^ 
Holy Sacrament, who refuse to come into the City on 
the hill that cannot be hid, into the Church built on 
the Rock 'gain^ which the gates of Hell shall ne'er 
prevail. 

I saw these countless pidtures of abuse and 
ingratitude p£iss in various manner before the troubled 
soul of Our Lord, sometimes one after another in 
regular succession, sometimes a single one in painful 
repetition. And in the series as it passed on I saw 
Satan take on many fearful shapes, saw him tear away 
from before the eyes of Our Savior many of the souls 
that had been redeemed by His Blood and even 
anointed with His sacrament Jesus looked upon and 
mourned over the ruin and corruption of Chri^ianity, 
from its beginning to its end, in its early age, in its 
later age, in our own days, and on to the consumma- 
tion of the world. 

"Such Ingratitude — Is That What 
Thou Art Suffering for?" 
"Behold the ingratitude of men! Is that what 
thou art suffering for?" Again and again this que^ion 
was hurled by the Tempter at Our Savior as the 
102 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives, 



endless vision of woe rolled on. At length the 
unceasing flood of derision and abomination poured 
such an unspeakable burden of anguish upon Him 
that He wrung His hands in pain and flung Himself 
upon His knees over and over again. The repug- 
nance of His human will to suffer so unspeakably for 
such an ungrateful race forced His sweat out in thick 
drops of blood, that ran in ^eams down His limbs to 
moi^en the earth. He looked around Him and above 
Him as if looking for help, as if csdling on heaven and 
earth and the lights in the firmament to be witnesses 
of His Passion. "Is it possible," so I seemed to hear 
Him cry out, "is it possible to suffer such ingrati- 
tude? Give te^imony to My woe!" 

At this moment moon and ^ars seemed to give a 
jerk and come nearer. I felt at once that it was 
getting brighter. My attention was now drawn to 
the moon which I had not noticed before. It looked 
altogether different from what it usually did. It was 
not yet at the full, but seemed to me larger than we 
ever see it here. Over the center I saw a dark spot, 
as if a disk were lying flat in front of it. In the center 
of this dark disk there shone a small opening through 
which light was streaming out upon the side of the 
moon that was not yet full. This dark spot looked 
like a mountain, while round the moon there was a 
circle of light that looked like a rainbow. 

In His anguish Jesus raised His voice for some 
moments in loud wailing. I saw the Apostles spring 
to their feet, lift their hands in terror, li^en in the 
dire<Stion of the cry, and on the point of rushing to 
their Ma^er. But Peter pushed James and John back 

103 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



and said : "Stay here, I am going to Him." I saw 
him rush over the ground and enter the cave. "Ma^er, 
what is it?" And he ^ood there, and trembled on 
seeing His Ma^er in that bloody anguish. But Jesus 
did not answer and seemed not to notice him. Peter 
went back to the other two, and told them that Jesus 
had given him no answer but wails and sighs. Their 
sadness grew deeper, they muffled their heads, sat 
down, and prayed in tears. 

I turned again to my Heavenly Spouse in His 
bitter desolation. The horrible visions of future abuse 
and ingratitude on the part of men whose guilt He 
had taken on Himself, whose punishment He was 
Himself enduring, breamed in upon Him with ever 
increasing violence, and His battle againit man's fear 
and dislike of suffering was ^ill unabated. Again 
and again I heard Him cry out : "Father, is it possible 
to suffer for all these? O Father, if this chalice can- 
not pass from Me, Thy will be done." 

Satan's Rage. 

Amid these visions that showed how men abuse 
God's mercy I saw Satan appear in various monstrous 
shapes to correspond with different crimes represented. 
Now he was a big, black man, now a tiger, a fox, or 
a wolf, a dragon, or a snake. Not that he looked 
exadlly like any of these. But he would take a char- 
adteri^ic feature of one of them and combine it with 
other abominable shapes. Never did he have the 
appearance of a perfect creature. Shapes of contra- 
diction, of ruin, of mon^rosity, of heinousness, of 
sin — in a word, shapes of the devil. And these dev. 
104 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



ilish shapes Jesus saw pursuing unnumbered multi- 
tudes of men — pursuing them, seducing them, 
throttling them, tearing them to pieces — men whom 
to save bom Satan He was now on His road to the 
death of the cross. As fir^ I did not see the serpent 
so often, but at length I saw him rise up, gigantic in 
size, with a crown on his head, and rush with frighful 
power upon Our Savior. Whole armies of every race 
and rank of men followed him. They were fitted out 
with all possible instruments and weapons of torture. 
Sometimes indeed they fought with one another, but 
only again to turn their fury againit Our Lord. Twas 
a mo^ fearful spedlacle. They mocked, and spat, 
and cursed, they threw, and thru^, and ^ruck. Their 
swords and spears rose and sank, like flails on an 
endless thrashing-floor. And their rage was all ag£iin^ 
the one Heavenly Grain of wheat that had come down 
to hide in the earth, to die in the earth, in order to 
nourish them all with the unending harvest of Life 
Everlasting. 

In the mid^ of these raging multitudes, many of 
whom seemed to be blind, I saw Jesus tossed 
about as if He were really being ^ruck by their weap- 
ons. He reeled from side to side, now rising up, now 
falling down. And I saw the serpent con^antly urge 
those armies onward, saw him ^ke out right and left 
with his tail, saw him Wrangle, tear to pieces and 
devour all whom he had ^uck down. 

Sins Against the Most Holy Sacrament. 

It was made known to me that these lacerating 
multitudes represented the countless numbers of those 

105 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



who in such manifold ways maltreat Our Savior pres- 
ent as God and man, with body and soul, with flesh 
and blood, in the Mo^ Holy Sacrament. I recognized 

r among them all classes of offenders again^ this holy 
my^ery, this pledge of His unbroken personal Pres- 
ence in the Catholic Church. I gazed with horror upon 
all these kinds of maltreatment, ranging from negledl, 
carelessness, abandonment, on to contempt, to abuse, 
to mo^ abominable sacrileges, from diversion to the 
idols of the world, from pride and false wisdom on to 

U heresy, infidelity, fanaticism and bloody persecution. 

Among these enemies there were all kinds of 
men — blind, and lame, and deaf, and dumb, even 
children. Blind men who would not see the truth, lame 
men who were too lazy to follow it, deaf men who would 
not li^en to His warning cries of woe, dumb men who 
would not fight for Him even with the sword of the 
tongue. Children following in the tracks of worldly- 
minded, God-forgetting parents and teachers, gorged 
with the pleasures of life, drunk with vain science, 
disgusted with the things of God, or for lack of them 
irrevocably depraved and corrupted. I felt especial 
sorrow for the children in thinking how Jesus loved 
them so much. Among them I noticed in particular 
many ill-in^trudted, ill-trained, irreverent mass-servers, 
who show no honor to Chri^ even in this mo^ holy 
a(5tion. Their guilt falls back partly on their teachers 
and pastors. But I observed with terror that many 
priests, high and low in rank, yes, even such as con- 
sidered themselves full of faith and piety, nevertheless 
were doing their share in maltreating Jesus in the 
Blessed Sacrament. 
106 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

I will mention but one class of the many I saw. 
I saw very many who believed, adored, and taught 
the Presence of the Living God in the Mo^ Holy 
Sacrament, but who did not allow their belief to co^ 
them much. They would not take the trouble to 
keep in proper condition the palace, the throne, the 
royal furniture of the King of heaven and earth, that 
is, the church, the altar, the tabernacle, the chcJice, 
the mon^rance of the Living God, the vessels, orna- 
ments, vestments, and 2ill that makes Divine Service 
beautiful. Years of du^, and dirt, and ru^, and trash, 
had done their work of decay and ruin, and the 
Service of the Living God, if not inwardly desecrated, 
was at lea^ outwardly dishonored. Nor was this con- 
dition due to real poverty. It W2is always the result 
of w£mt of feeling, of laziness, of easy-going custom, 
of occupation with vain, worldly unimportant matters. 
Often it came from selfishness and inward death. For 
I saw this itate of negledt even in churches that were 
well-to-do or at leail had enough to meet all needs. 
Yea, in many churches I saw the mo^ magnificent and 
venerable ornaments of a bygone age of faith ban- 
ished by tameless, grotesque, worldly grandeur— spec- 
tacular, deceptive decoration to varnish over the real 
^ate of extravagance, uncleanliness, negle<fl and ruin. 
And what boaitful superiority led the rich to do, that 
the poor by lack of simplicity were soon brought to 
imitate. I could not but refledl on our poor convent 
church, where the beautiful ancient altar of ^one had 
disappeared beneath an ambitious super^lrucilure of 
wood, painted to look like marble. To think of it had 
always made me sad. 

107 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 

To add to these wrongs of Jesus in the Blessed 
Sacrament, I saw countless payors who had not 
enough feeling for what is right and ju^ to share what 
they possessed with Him who for them had delivered 
Himself to death, for them had left all that He was 
and all that He had in the Mo^ Holy Euchari^. 
Yea, the house of even the very poorer was often 
better than the dwelling of the Lord of Heaven and 
earth. Alas, how bitterly did Jesus feel this want of 
welcome on the part of those whose very Food He 
had become. And surely riches are not needed to 
welcome One who rewards a thousandfold even the 
cup of cold water given to the thir^. And are not 
we the cup of water for which He pants? And mu^ 
He not break forth in lamentation when the cup we 
give Him is unclesm, the water full of worms ? 

I saw how this carelessness scandalized the weak, 
desecrated the sandtuary, emptied the church, de- 
graded the prie^ Negledl and uncleanliness soon 
settled down also on the souls of the surrounding 
pcirish. They could not be expected to keep the tab- 
ernacle of their heart more pure than the tabernacle 
on the altar. When there was que^ion of flattering 
the lords and princes of the world, of satisfjring their 
whims and worldly projedls, then these payors were 
pictures of far-seeing, energetic activity. At the same 
time the King of heaven and earth lay like Lazarus at 
their doors, and longed for the crumbs of love which 
no one would give Him. Nothing had He at all but 
the wounds we had ^ruck Him, and the sores licked 
by the dogs, i. e. by backsliding sinners who return 
like dogs to their vomit 
108 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives, 



Though I were to go on for a year, I could not tell 
all I saw, the various sufferings thus inflidled upon 
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I saw all these of- 
fenders crowding in upon our Savior and ^riking Him 
down, each with a weapon that corresponded to his 
own particular guilt. Century after century drove in 
its crowds of irreverent sacri^ans, of careless and sin- 
ful prie^, of lukewcirm and unworthy communicants. 
Countless were those for whom the fountain of all 
blessing, the my^ery of the Living God, was become 
nothing more than a word wherewith to curse and 
vent their rage. With them came warriors and devil- 
worshipers, who defiled the holy vessels, scattered the 
sacred Hosts on the ground, maltreated them abom- 
inably, or even profaned them sacrilegiously by hellish 
idolatry. 

More Refined Impiety. 

Side by side with these grosser forms of mal- 
treatment I saw countless shapes of a more refined 
impiety — more refined but equally abominable. Bad 
example and faithless teaching drove many souls away 
from belief in His presence, from adoration of the 
Blessed Sacrament Among these crowds weis a great 
multitude of sinful teachers who had become heretics. 
At war with one another at fir^, they began to rage 
in common again^ Jesus in the Sacrciment of His 
Church. I saw there many apostates, heads of heret- 
ical churches, reje<5t with scorn the prie^ood of the 
Church, dispute and deny away the presence of Jesus 
Chri^ in the Blessed Sacrament, and thus tear away 
from His Heart countless souls for whom He had shed 

109 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



His bloody for whose sake He had given this My^eiy 
to the safe keeping of His Church, for whom she had 
guarded It so faithfully. 

O God, the sight was terrible! The Church is 
the very Body of Jesus. His bitter Passion had woven 
all her scattered members together. And all those 
parishes or families, and all their descendents — I saw 
them torn from Him as so many pieces of His living, 
bleeding Body ! O God, how melting the sight when 
He turned to gaze upon them and weep over them. 
He who had reached the Euchari^ic Food out across 
boundless space even to the outermost members of 
mankind, and had thus drawn them together to form 
the one Body which is His Church and His Bride — 
He had to behold this Body torn asunder and its 
scattered limbs bringing forth the evil fruits of the 
tree of schism. His supreme, etemzJ work of love, 
me£mt by Him to be the banquet table of reunion, 
was turned by false teachers into a landmark of 
disunion. And where alone *twas right and salutary 
for the many to become one, around the table 
whereon lay as Food the Living God Himself, ju^ 
there His children had to part from unbelievers and 
heretics le^ they become guilty of their neighbor's 
sin. And thus 1 saw whole peoples torn away from 
His loving Heart, and losing all share in the treasures 
of His Church. 

Terror Would Cleave Thy Heart Asunder. 

*Twas terrible to behold how the firil few who 
tore themselves away were on their return grown into 
whole peoples. Disagreed in what is holie^, they at 
110 



Jestts in the Garden of Olives. 



Ht^ ^ood marshalled again^ one another like oppos- 
ing armies. But at length they united. All the 
separated children of the Church, grown wild and 
savage in unbelief, super^ition, heresy, pride and 
false wisdom — all these combined into great armies 
and began to ^orm and rage again^ the Church, 
while the serpent in their mid^ throttled them and 
urged them on. O God, it seemed as if Jesus saw 
and felt Himself being torn into countless tiny shreds. 
He felt in Himself the full power of the poisoned tree 
of separation, with all its branches and fruits — the 
tree that is to go on cleaving cind dividing till the 
consummation of the world, when the wheat shall be 
gathered into the bams and the chaff be ca^ into the 
fire. What I had seen was so horrible that my 
Heavenly Bridegroom appeared to me, laid His hand 
on my bre£i^, and said : "No one has yet seen all 
this, and terror would cleave thy heart asunder, did 
I not hold it together." 

And now I saw blood trickling in heavy, dark 
drops down the pale face of my Savior, saw His hair, 
usually smooth and well-parted, now clogged with 
blood, tangled and dishevelled, saw His beard bloody 
and tousled. 'Twas after the la^ vision, after the 
fearful laceration by those armed multitudes, that like 
one fleeing He came forth from the cave and went 
again to His disciples. But His gait was not ^eady. 
He moved like one who is wounded and weighed 
down by a heavy load, who hesitates and seems every 
moment ready to fall. 

When He reached the three Apo^les, He did not 
find them, as He did the fir^ time, lying on their 

111 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



sides in a sleeping position. They sat on the ground^ 
their heads muffled and re^ed on their knees — a 
position which I often saw people in that country take 
when in sorrow and in prayer. Sadness and fear and 
weariness had sunk them in slumber. But when 
Jesus, trembling and groaning drew nigh them, they 
opened their eyes. There He ^ood in the moonlight, 
His brea^ fallen in, His face pale and bloody. His 
hair dishevelled, His figure bending towards them 
under its weight of sorrow. So unspeakably disfigured 
was He, and so tired were their e3'^es, that they did 
not at firil recognize Him. But seeing Him wring 
His hands, they sprang to their feet, put their arms 
round Him, and supported Him like loving children. 
And He spoke in great sadness : Tomorrow He would 
be put to death. Within an hour He would be taken 
captive, and dragged into court, would be maltreated, 
mocked, scourged and cruelly put to death. He like- 
wise begged them to console His Mother. In great 
sorrow of soul He told all He would have to suffer 
until the next evening, and besought them to console, 
not only His Mother but also Mary Magdalen. 

He ^ood thus for some minutes talking to them. 
They gave no answer. They knew not what to say, 
so overcome were they with sadness and dismay at 
His appearance and His words. Yea, they began to 
think He mu^ be out of His mind. When He tried 
to go back to the cave He could not walk, and I saw 
John and James lead Him there. When He reent- 
ered the cave they returned to Peter. It was about 
a quarter pa^ eleven. 



112 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



Anguish of Our Blessed Lady. 

During the Agony of Our Savior I saw also His 
Blessed Mother suffer deep anguish in the house of 
Mary of Mark. She was in a garden near the house, 
and with her were Mary of Mark and Magdalen. She 
was cowered down on a slab of ^one, where she had 
sank to her knees and then broken down. Repeat- 
edly her inner vision of the Agony of Jesus made her 
lose her outward senses. She had sent out messen- 
gers to get news of Him, but her anguish would not 
let her await their return, so with Magdalen and Sa- 
lome she went out into the Valley of Josaphat. Her 
face was veiled. Often she held out her hands towards 
Mount Olivet. In spirit she saw Jesus sweating blood 
and she seemed to be trying to wipe and dry His face. 
And I saw how this powerful movement of her soul 
reached even to her Son, and how Jesus was moved 
in remembering her, and looked towards her as if 
seeking for help. I saw this mutual sympathy in the 
form of rays of light, which they sent back and forth 
to each other. On Magdalen He thought also. He 
felt her sorrow, and looked over to her, and felt 
touched by her compassion. Hence it Wcis that He 
had commanded the Apo^les to console her too. 
For He knew that, after the love of His Mother, none 
had such great love for Him as Magdalen. And He 
had seen what she was ^ill to suffer for Him, and 
that till her death she would never again offend Him. 

At this time, about a quarter pa^ eleven, the 
eight Apo^les were again in the garden-house of 
Gethsemani. They spoke for a while, then fell to 

113 

*8 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



sleep again. The heavy trial had ^ruck them with 
fear and con^emation. Each had been looking for 
a place of refuge. All were thinking : "What shall 
we do if He is put to death? We have left all that 
we had, and are now poor and a byword to the world. 
We threw ourselves entirely on His power, and behold 
He is become so weak and broken that He can give 
us no consolation." The other disciples had wan- 
dered here and there for a while. After obtaining 
many bits of information regarding the latent move- 
ments of Jesus, they had nearly all retired to Beth- 
phage. Again I saw Jesus praying in the cave. He 
was ^ill ^ruggling with human repugnance for suffer- 
ing. He was growing weary and dejedled. "My 
Father," so He prayed, "if it be Thy will, take this 
chalice from Me. Nevertheless not My will but Thine 
be done." 

A Vision of indescribable Beauty. 

But now the deep opened up beneath Him, and 
along a path of light He gazed many ^eps downwards 
into Limbo. There He saw Adam and Eve, all the 
patriarchs, prophets, and just men of the Old Law, 
His Mother's parents and John the Bapti^ — all wait- 
ing so longingly for His coming that His loving Heart 
found new ^rength and courage in the vision. Unto 
these drooping captives His death was to open Heav- 
en. He Himself was to lead them forth from their 
prison of expectation. 

When Jesus had gcized for a while with deep 
inner feeling upon these Old Te^ament heirs of Heav- 
en, the pointing angels went on to show Him the 
114 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

future multitudes of the Blessed. He saw them fight 
their battles in the power of His merits, and by Him 
attain to union with the Heavenly Father. This was 
a vision of indescribable beauty and consolation. 
There they were marching along under His eyes, each 
in his own rank, each with his own dignity, each 
clothed with his own deeds and sorrows. In them 
He saw the innermo^, inexhau^ible salvation and 
sandlification of the redeeming death that was await- 
ing Him. The Apo^les marched by Him, the disci- 
ples, the virgins and holy women, all the martyrs, 
hermits and confessors, all holy prieils and bishops, 
the companies of monks and nuns, in a word, all the 
countless hosts of the Blessed. All were decked out 
with garlands of victory — garlands woven from their 
own sufferings and triumphs. And all the flowers in 
these garlands, so different one from another in shape, 
color, scent, and power, grew naturally out of the 
many different sufferings, battles and victories wherein 
they had won their title to glory. All that they were, 
their life and their work, the dignity and impressive- 
ness of their victories, the many-colored glory of their 
triumphs — all flowed from their union with the 
merits of Jesus Christ. 

To see all these Blessed Ones, adling and reach- 
ing upon one another, floating now above now below 
one another, and all drinking from one single fount- 
ain, from the Mo^ Holy Sacrament of the Passion of 
Our Lord — this was a spedlacle mo^ wonderfully 
beautiful and touching. There v/as nothing accident- 
al or out of place. Act and omission, martyrdom 
and crown, appearance and garb, all woven into one 

115 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



web of infinite harmony and unity. And this won- 
derful unity in variety arose from the manifold colored 
rays of one single sun, the Peission of Our Lord, the 
Incarnate Word, in whom was the Life that was the 
Light of men, the^ Light that shone in the darkness 
and the darkness did not comprehend it. 

Twas the Communion of Saints that was passing 
in vision before the soul of Our Savior. He stood 
between the patient longing of the Old Te^ament 
and the triumphant fulfillment of the New, while the 
patriarchs of the former and the saints of the latter 
united to form one complete circle of triumph round 
the loving Heart of their Redeemer. A spedtacle of 
such surpassingjtenderness refreshed and ^rengthen- 
ed in some measure the all-suffering soul of Our Lord. 

God, how he loved His brothers. His creatures! 
Willingly He would have borne all His sufferings 
even for one of them. I saw these visions floating 

\ above the earth,^as they'^referred to the future. 

Vision of His Passion. 

But now these visions of consolation disappeared, 
and representations of His Passion took their place. 
These latter the pointing angels let glide along close 
to the ground, as they referred to what Wcis immediate- 
ly at hand. Many were the angels engaged in this 
task. The visions were quite^close to Him, and I saw 
them clearly, from the kiss of Judas to His last word 
on the cross, I saw everything over again, everything 

1 am accustomed to see in my contemplations of the 
Passion: The treason of Judas, the flight of the 
116 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

Apostles, the derision of Annas and Caiphas, the 
denial of Peter, the judgment of Pilate, the mockery 
of Herod, the scourging and crowning with thorns, 
the sentence of death, the falls under the cross, the 
meeting with Our Blessed Lady, her collapse and 
swoon, the insults heaped by the executioners upon 
her, the veil of Veronica, the cruel nailing to the cross, 
the elevation of the cross, the revilings of the Phari- 
sees, the sorrows of Magdalen and John, and the 
opening of His side. In a word everything, every 
detail of His Passion ^ood there clearly and distinctly 
before His soul. All the gestures, all the feeling, all 
the words of His torturers — I saw and heard Him see 
and hecir them all. He accepted them all, submitted 
to them all, out of love for man. 

What pained Him most was the shameful expo- 
sure on the cross to atone for the sins of men again^ 
charity. He begged not to be exposed entirely, to 
have at least a loin-cloth. And I saw that, not by His 
crucifiers, but by some good men. His request would 
be granted. 

He further saw and felt what sorrow His Mother 
was now suffering in the Valley of Josaphat, where 
out of commiseration for Him she lay unconscious in 
the arms of the two holy women who accompanied her. 

When the long vision was over Jesus sank down 
upon His face like one djnng. The angels and the 
visions disappeared. The sweat of blood burst from 
Him more violently than before. I saw it oozing 
through His yellow-tinged garment wherever it lay 
close to His Body. Twas now dark in the cave. 



117 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH, 



Jesus is Supernaturally Strengthened. 

I now saw an angel floating down to Jesus. He 
was larger than the angels who had been there before, 
had a more definite form, and seemed in figure more 
like a man. He was robed like a priest, in a long, 
floating garment, ornamented with tassels. He car- 
ried in His hands before His breast a little vessel, in 
form like the chalice of the Last Supper. But in the 
mouth of the chalice there hung a small, thin, red- 
shining morsel, oblong in shape and about as large 
as a bean. Floating downwards the angel extended 
his right hand to help Jesus rise, then put the shining 
morsel into His mouth and let Him drink out of the 
chalice of light. Thereupon he disappeared. 

Jesus had freely accepted the chalice of suffering 
and now felt new ^rength. He remained some mo- 
ments longer in the cave, absorbed in silent thanks- 
giving. He Wcis still sad, but so ^rengthened super- 
naturally that He could walk towards His disciples 
with^eady^ep, without any sign of fear or perturba- 
tion. His face was still worn and pale, but His gait 
was upright and determined. With a handkerchief 
He had wiped His face and smoothed His hair. The 
latter was itill damp with the blood and sweat of His 
Agony, and hung down tangled and twisted. 

When He came forth from the cave I saw that 
the moon had the same peculiar spot and circle as 
before, but that neither it nor the stars were shining 
with the same light as during the anguish of Our Lord. 
Their light was now more natural. 

When Jesus came to His disciples, He found 

118 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



them, as He had found them the fir^ time, alongside 
the terraced wall asleep, lying on their sides and with 
their heads muffled. Our Lord said to them that 
now was no time to sleep. Let them rise up and 
pray, "for behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son 
of Man will be delivered into the hands of sinners. 
Arise, let us go. Behold, he that will betray Me is at 
hsmd. Oh, it were better for him he had never been 
bom !" The Apo^Ies sprang to their feet and looked 
around in terror. But scarcely had they grown fully 
conscious when Peter's impetuosity broke out : "Mas- 
ter, let me call the others and we will defend you." 
Jesus pointed out across the vsJley, where at some 
di^ance, ^11 beyond the brook Cedron, a torch-bear- 
ing company of armed men were approaching. One 
of those, He said, had betrayed Him. They however 
thought this impossible. Quiet and self-possessed He 
went on talking to them. Once more He enjoined 
them to console His Mother, and then said : "Let us 
go to meet them. I will not msJce any resi^ance, but 
will deliver Myself into the hands of My enemies." To 
meet the bailiffs He Pepped out of the Garden of 
Olives, into the road that divides the Garden of Olives 
from the Garden of Gethsemani. 

Our Blessed Lady was in the Valley of Josaphat 
and had swooned in the arms of Mzigdalen and 
Salome. When she came to herself, some disciples, 
who had seen the on-coming crowd of soldiers, came 
up to them and led them back to the house of Mary 
of Mark. The band of enemies were approaching by 
a shorter way than that taken by Jesus from the 
Supper Room. 

119 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



The cave where Jesus had been today was not 
His usual spot for prayer. He usually went to a more 
di^ant cavern of the mountain. Twas here that, 
leaning upon a rock and with out^retched arms, He 
had prayed with such sorrow on the day when He 
cursed the fig-tree. The marks of His figure and His 
hands remained ingraved into the rock. They became 
objedis of devotion later, though it was no longer 
clearly known on what occasion they arose. I have 
often seen indented into rocks these impressions from 
the bodies of holy persons: Of the prophets in the Old 
Testament, of Jesus, of Mary, of some of the Apo^les, 
of St. Catherine of Alexandria (on Mount Sinai), and 
of some other saints. These indentures are not deep, 
but blunt and dull, like those made by pressing down 
on a firm mass of dough. 

The outcome of the treason of Judas was some- 
thing else than he had anticipated. He wanted to 
obtain the reward of his treason, to gain the good- will 
of the Pharisees by handing Jesus over to them. He 
had never thought of Jesus being condemned and 
crucified. That did not enter into his plans at all. 
His only thought was the money. For a long time he 
had been in feeling with some sneaking and prying 
Pharisees and Sadducees, whose flatteries drew him 
on to treason. He was tired of the weary, wandering, 
persecuted life he had to lead with Jesus. 

For some months pa^ he had been paving the 
way for his crime by repeatedly dealing what was 
meant for the poor. His avarice had been probed to 
the quick by Magdalen's liberality in anointing Jesus, 
and he was now ready for the worit. His hope had 
120 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 

ever been an earthly kingdom for Jesus, and a lucra- 
tive 2ind brilliant position in it for himself. As such a ] 
kingdom was not forthcoming, he began to gather a j 
fortune of his own. He saw how difficulties and 1 
persecutions were con^antly growing, and thought it j 
advisable to be on good terms with Our Lord's pow- J 
erful enemies before the end should come. Jesus 
was not likely to become king. The high prie^s and 
other men of rank connected with the Temple loomed : 
up large before his eyes, and so he drifted more and \ 
more into the meshes laid by their agents. The \ 
latter flattered him to the top of his bent. They said I 
to him with great confidence : "At all events 'twill j 
soon be over with Jesus." These la^ days in Betha- 
nia they had been at him, and so he was sinking 
ever deeper into ruin. He was running his very heels ■ 
off for a final arrangement with the highprieits. But i 
they held back and treated him with deliberate con- I 
tempt. Before the fe^ival, they said, time would be 1 
too short. They did not want disturbance and tumult 
on the fea^-day itself. The Sanhedrin alone showed i 
any inclination for the proposal of Judas. | 

After his unworthy communion Satan took pos- 
session of him entirely, and so he went to do the thing 
of abomination. He fir^ sought out the agents who 
had con^antly flattered him, and who now, welcomed 
him agciin with hypocritical friendliness. Other men 
came in, among them Caiphas and Annas, but the 
latter treated him with contempt and insolence. They 
were in a hesitating mood, were not confident of the \ 
outcome, and seemed to di^ru^ Judas. ^ 

I saw the kingdom of Hell as if divided again^ 

121 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSL 



itself. On the one hand Satan desired to load the 
Jews with crime through the death of the mo^ inno- 
cent of men. He further desired the death of Jesus, 
because he hated the Converter of Sinners, the Holy 
Teacher, the Healing One, the Ju^ One. On the 
other hand he shrank back in fear from the murder 
of one so guiltless, of one who made no attempt to 
flee or to save Himself. He was envious of one who 
was so ready to suffer without being guilty. And 
thus, while he kept on fanning the hatred and rage 
of the enemies of Jesus who were gathered round the 
traitor, he at the same time excited others with the 
thought that Judsis was a rascal and felon; that before 
the fe^ival it w£is impossible to get the case into 
court, or to bring forward a sufficient number of 
witnessess again^ Jesus. 

Those assembled continued to defend their con- 
tradictory opinions on what course to take. Among 
the que^ions put to Judsis was this : "Are we able to 
capture Him ? Hasn*t He armed men su'ound Him ?" 
And the abominable traitor replied : "No, He is alone 
with His eleven disciples. His courage has broken 
down completely and His disciples are all cowards." 
He went on to say that they mu^ capture Jesus today 
or never. He himself was not going to return to 
Jesus, so he would not again be able to betray Him 
into their hands. For some days already the disciples 
and even Jesus Himself had been making illusions 
to his thoughts of treason. Today things had come 
to a crisis. They knew the plans he was pursuing, 
and would surely murder him if he returned to them. 
He added that if they did not capture Jesus now, He 
122 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



would escape, return with an army of followers, and 
let Himself be crowned King. 

These threats finsilly won the day for Judcis. His 
proposal was accepted. Jesus was to be captured by 
a bcind under his guidance. He received the thirty 
coins, the price of his treason. Each of these coins 
was a thin plate of silver, in shape like a tongue, with 
a hole through the semi-circular tip. In each of these 
holes there was fastened a ring, and running through 
cJl these rings was a kind of chain, which served to 
bind the thirty pieces into one. Some kind of signs 
had been hammered into these silver plates. 

Judas had begun to wince under the repeated 
manife^ations of contempt and mi^ruit on the part 
of his employers. Pride and boa^fulness led him to 
play the disintere^ed man by offering them the money 
he had ]uit received as a sacrifice for the Temple. 
But they refused it on the plea that the price of blood 
Wcis unfit for the holy place. Judas felt the bitter 
contempt behind this plea, and was filled with rage. 
Such treatment he had not expedled. He was reap- 
ing the fruits of his treason before it was entirely 
accomplished. But He was now in their hands. He 
had entangled himself in their meshes and could no 
longer unwind himself from their grasp. They watched 
him sharply, and kept him under their eyes till he had 
fully unfolded his plcin for capturing Jesus. This 
done, three Pharisees went down with him to the heJl 
of the Temple-soldiers. The latter were promiscuous 
in charad:er, not all Jews. When everything was 
arranged, and a suitable number of soldiers assembled, 
Judas hurried away to the Supper Room to see if Jesus 

123 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



was ilill there. If so they could easily take possession 
of the doors and secure their captive. He was ac- 
companied by a servant of the Pharisees, who was to 
bring back word to his makers. 

The Wood of Christ's Cross. 

Some time before this, ju^ after Judas received 
his treason-money, some one had gone down into the 
city and given orders to seven slaves to go and get 
wood and make a cross. It would thus be ready for 
Chri^ as soon as He was condemned. There would 
not be enough time on the morrow, as the Pasch was 
too near. The slaves had to go about a mile to get 
wood for the cross. On the same spot — it was a 
building-yard — there lay by the side of a long, high 
wall, a great deal more wood, all intended for use in 
con^rudting or repairing the Temple. The slaves 
carried their wood to a spot behind Pilates court and 
began to get it in shape. The trunk of the cross had 
formerly, when ^ill a living tree, ^ood in the Valley 
of Josaphat, on the brook of Cedron, had later fallen 
down and across, and thus formed a bridge. 

When Nehemias concealed the holy fire and the 
sacred vessels in the pool of Bethsaida, this tree-trunk 
had been thrown aside on a heap of patch-wood. 
Partly in order to mock Jesus as King, partly from 
apparent chance, but yet according to God*s plans, 
the cross was prepared in a peculiar manner. Count- 
ing the inscription, it consisted of five different kinds 
of wood. I saw many other details in the con^rudtion 
of the cross, and knew what they meant — but I have 
forgotten everything except what I have here told. 
124 



Jesus in the Garden of Olives. 



On his return Judas said that Jesus was no longer in 
the Supper Room, but mu^ by this time surely be at 
His usual place for prayer on Mount Olivet. He now 
insi^ed that they let only a small band go with him. 
Otherwise the disciples, everywhere on the watch, 
would notice what was going on and arouse the 
people. But three hundred men ought to occupy the 
gates and Greets of Ophel, that part of town which 
lay south of the Temple, and also the valley called 
Millo as far as the house of Annas on Sion. These 
men would thus be in a position to come to the aid 
of the returning band if the latter should call on them. 
For the rabble in Ophel were all followers of Jesus. 
The wretched traitor likewise warned them to be very 
careful not to let Jesus escape. He told them of the 
many occasions in the mountains, on which Jesus had 
hidden powers to make Himself invisible and thus 
escape from His companions. Judcis proposed that 
they bind Him with a chain and employ magic arts 
to keep Him from breaking His bonds. The Jews 
treated this proposal with contempt. "Keep your 
old wives' tales for yourself," they said. "We will see 
to it that He is held fa^ when we once have Him." 



The Vile Arrangements Made by Judas. 

Judas agreed with the band that he was to go 
ahead of them into the garden. He would kiss Jesus, 
and greet Him as would a friend and disciple returning 
from some business. Then the soldiers were to press 
forwards and take Jesus captive. Judas himself would 
adl as if the soldiers had come to the spot by accident, 

125 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSL 



and would flee like the other disciples. He also 
thought that possibly there would be some hubbub 
and conhision, that the Apo^les might show resi^- 
ance, and Jesus glide out of the hands of His enemies 
as^He had on so many former occasions. From time 
to time, whenever he felt somewhat more keenly the 
contempt and mi^ru^ of the enemies of Jesus, he 
hoped it would come thus. Not that he was sorry 
for^his deed, or touched by the thought of Jesus. He 
had given himself entirely over to Satan. 

He was not willing that those behind him should 
carry bonds or cords, or that there should be any 
vulgar hangmen in his band at all. Seemingly he 
had his way, but in reality his employers treated him 
as an infamous traitor, one who is not to be tru^ed 
who is to be thrown aside when he has adled his part. 
They gave the soldiers special orders to keep their 
eyes on Judas, not to let him escape till they had 
bound Jesus. He had cJready received his hire, they 
said, and there was reason to fear that the scoundrel 
would make off with his money. In that case they 
would not be able to capture Jesus at all, or would 
take someone else instead of Him, and thus the whole 
affair would only result in disturbances and tumults 
on the Pasch. 

The Soldiers. 
The band sent out to capture Jesus consi^ed of 
twenty soldiers. They were dressed almo^ like Ro- 
man soldiers. They wore spiked helmets, and had 
leather thongs hanging down from their jackets. 
Their beard was what chiefly di^inguished them from 
the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem. The latter wore 
126 



Jesns in the Garden of Olives. 

side-whiskers; but shaved the chin and upper lip 
clean. All of the twenty were armed with swords, 
some of them also with spears or ^aves. They car- 
ried torches of pitch and pans of kindling fire, but 
had lighted only one of the latter when they arrived. 
It had been intended to send a larger band along with 
Judas, but the latter's objedtion to this had prevailed. 
The view from Mount Olivet, he said, commanded 
the whole valley, and a larger band would easily draw 
attention. So the greater number ^ayed back in 
Ophel. Elsewhere too in the town and in the bjrways 
outside, body-guards were Rationed in order to neu- 
tralize any attempts at rescue. 

Judas marched on with the twenty soldiers. But 
orders were given for four vulgar bailiffs, common 
hangmen, to follow at some di^ance with cords and 
bonds. And some paces behind these came the six 
agents with whom Judas had so long been having 
dealings. Two of these were prieils of rank, one 
having the confidence of Annas, the other that of 
Ccdphas. Two were Pharisees, and the remaining 
two were Sadducees and at the same time Herodians. 
All of them were lurking, eaves-dropping, du^-crouch- 
ing men-pleasers, sworn to the service of Annas and 
Caiphas and in secret the mo^ bitter enemies of our 
Savior. The twenty soldiers v/ent forward with Judas 
quite securely until they reached the road that runs 
in between the two gardens, one in Gethsemani, the 
other on Mount Olivet. From here on they would 
not let him go forward alone, assumed towards him 
quite a different tone than before, and became quar- 
relsome and insolent. 

127 



The Passion of Jesus Chriit. 



Our Lord Made Captive. 

When Jesus and the three Apo^les Pepped out 
on the road between the two gardens, they saw Judas 
and his band at the entrance into this road, about 
twenty paces di^ant. Judas was quarrelling with the 
soldiers. He wanted to separate from them and go 
in to Jesus by himself, as if he were ^ill a friend. The 
soldiers would then seem to have come to the spot 
without his knowledge. But they held him fa^, say- 
ing : "Not so fait, comrade, you don't get rid of us 
till we have the Galilean." By this time the eight 
Apo^les, aroused by the noise, were advancing out 
of the Garden of Gethsemani. The soldiers observed 
this, and in order to ^rengthen their force, called 
forward the four jailers who were following behind. 
Judas however did not wish to have these at all and 
prote^ed with great excitement. When Jesus and 
the three Apo^les saw the armed band quarreling in 
the torch-light, Peter was for setting on them with 
violence. "Ma^er," said he, "there are the Eleven 
there ahead of us, let us fall on the soldiers." Jesus 
told him to remain quiet, and Pepped back with them 
some paces across the road to a grass-plot. 

Judas saw his anticipations thwarted, and was 
filled with rage and malice. Four disciples had 
emerged from the Garden of Gethsemani and asked 
him what all this meant. He began to bandy words 
with them, and tried to lie himself out of his predica- 
ment, but the guards would not let him go. These four 
disciples were James the Less, Philip, Thomas and 
Nathanael. The latter and one of the sons of old 
128 



Our Lord Made CapUve. 



Simeon, and several other disciples, had all gathered 
round the eight Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemani, 
some sent there as messengers by the friends of Jesus, 
some driven by their own fear and curiosity. Except- 
ing these four, the other disciples were at a di^ance, 
hovering round the spot to see the end. 

"Whom Seek Ye?" 

Jesus now advamced some spaces towards the 
band, and said loudly and clearly : "Whom seek ye ?" 
The leaders answered : "Jesus of Nsizareth." Jesus 
answered : "I am He." Scarcely was the word said 
when they seemed to be seized with cramps, reeled 
backwards one again^ the other, and fell to the ground. 
This made Judas, ^ill landing near them, more 
bewildered than ever. He seemed to have a desire to 
get necir Jesus. But Our Lord raised His hand and 
said: "Friend, whereunto art thou come?" In con- 
^emation Judas said something about having finished 
his business. Jesus spoke some such words as these ; 
"Oh, better were it for thee never to have been born !" 
But I cannot now recall the words di^indlly. 

In the meanwhile the soldiers had risen from the 
ground, and gone forwards towards Jesus and His 
companions. They were waiting for the traitor to 
give the sign by kissing Our Savior, but Peter and the 
other disciples pressed in round Judas and called him 
thief and traitor. He tried to get out of their grasp, 
but did not succeed, because the soldiers endeavored 
to protedl him and thereby bore witness again^ him. 

Jesus said once more : "Whom seek ye ?" They 
turned to Him and again replied: "Jesus of Naza- 

129 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 

reth." Then He said : "I am He. I told you already 
that I am He. If you are seeking Me, let them go." 
At the word : "1 am He," the soldiers fell down again, 
twined all out of shape, like men with epilepsy, while 
Judas was again hard pressed by the other Apo^les, 
all extremely embittered against him. Jesus now 
said to the soldiers : "Arise." They arose, but were 
filled with terror. Judas was ^ill altercating with the 
disciples, and the latter began to press again^ the 
soldiers. So the soldiers turned against the disciples, 
and enabled Judas to get free. Then they drove him 
by threats to give them the sign they had agreed upon. 
For they had been ordered to seize no one but him 
whom Judas would kiss. 

"Judas, Dost Thou Betray 
the Son of Man with a Kiss?" 

So Judas now went up to Jesus, embraced Him, 
and kissed Him, saying : "Hail, Rabbi." Jesus said : 
"Judas, do^ thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss ?" 
The soldiers now formed a circle around Jesus, and 
the jailers approached and laid hands on Him. Judas 
now tried to flee, but the Apo^les held him fa^, 
pressed in upon the soldiers, and cried out : "Master, 
shall we ^rike with the sword?" Peter, more eager 
than the others, drew his sword and made a pass at 
Malchus, the servant of the high priest, who was try- 
ing to drive the Apo^les back. The blow took off a 
piece of the servant's ear, and knocked him to the 
ground, whereupon the confusion grew ^ill greater. 

At the moment when Peter ^ruck this zealous 

130 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



blow circum^ances were as follows. Jesus was ju^ 
being laid hold of by the jailers who were going to 
bind Him. A little farther away the soldiers likewise 
^ood round Him in a circle, and with them Malchus, 
till Peter ^ruck him down. Some of the soldiers were 
engaged in repelling and pursuing the disciples, who 
again and again would come near and then flee away. 
Four of the disciples, however, were roving about, 
and appeared now and then in the di^ance. The 
soldiers did not press the pursuit very Wrongly, as 
their falls had made them timid, and they did not 
dare weaken too much the circle around Jesus. Judas 
tried to escape right after giving the kiss of treason, 
but some disciples who ^ood at a di^ance topped 
him and overwhelmed him with reproaches. But 
ju^ at this moment the six officers appeared on the 
scene and released Judas. The four hangmen round 
Jesus were busy with their cords and bonds. They 
were holding Our Lord and ju^ on the point of 
binding Him. 

Jesus Heals The Elar of Malchus. 

Such was the situation ju^ after Peter had ^ruck 
down Malchus. At the same moment Jesus said: 
**Peter, put up thy sword. He that taketh the sword 
shall perish by the sword. Or do^ thou think that I 
cannot ask My Father and He will give Me presently 
more than twelve legions of angels? Shall 1 not 
drink the chalice which My Father has given Me? 
How shall the scriptures be fulfilled that so it mu^ be 
done?" He continued: "Let Me heal the man." 
He came up to Malchus, touched his ear, prayed, 

131 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



and the ear was whole. But the guard around Him, 
the jailers, and the six officers mocked Him, sajring : 
"He has dealings with the devil. Twas witchcraft 
made the ear seem injured, and witchcraft has again 
made it whole." 

Then Jesus said to them : "You are come with 
spears and clubs to capture Me, as if I were a murderer. 
I taught daily among you in the Temple, and you 
dared not lay hand on Me. But this is your hour and 
the power of darkness." But they ordered Him to be 
bound, and mocked Him, saying : "Ha ! You were 
not able to ca^ us down with your magic." Similar 
words were spoken by the jailers : "We will teach 
you to forget your tricks," etc. Jesus said something 
more in reply, but I no longer know what it was. 
The disciples were now fleeing in every direction. 
The four jailers and six officers had neither fallen to 
the ground nor, consequently, risen to their feet again. 
The reason for this was revealed to me. They were 
in the bonds of Satan, ju^ like Judas, who did not fall 
either, although he was landing with the soldiers. 
But those who had fallen and risen again were after- 
wards converted and became Chri^ians. The falling 
and rising was the symbol of their conversion. Neither 
did these soldiers lay hand on Jesus, they merely 
surrounded Him. Malchus was so changed on being 
healed that he went on doing his duty as soldier only 
for the sake of order. In the hours that followed he 
ran as messenger back and forth to Mary and other 
friends, bringing them news of all that happened. 

While the Pharisees kept up a running fire of 
insolence and mockery, the jailers proceeded to bind 
132 



Our Lord Made Captive, 



Jesus. Barbarous brutality msurked their adtions. 
They were pagans of the mo^ degraded kind. Their 
legs, arms and neck were bare. They wore loin- 
cloths and jackets, the latter short and sleeveless, 
and held together at the sides with ^aps. They were 
small, ^ong, very nimble, somewhat brown and fox- 
like in color, reminding me of Egyptian slaves. 

They bound Our Lord's hands before His breail 
in a cruel manner. His right wriil was brought under 
His left elbow. His left wri^ under His right elbow, 
and both twined mercilessly to their places with new 
sharp-cutting cords. They tied a broad belt with 
sharp points round His wai^. To this belt were 
attached rings of willowbark, and to these rings His 
hands, already bound, were once more tied. Round 
His neck they put a band with sharp prongs, and 
from this band there ran down over His brea^ two 
^aps like the two ends of a ^ole. These ^aps 
were fetched so tight as to leave no playroom at all, 
and were tied at their lower ends to the belt. At four 
different points on this belt they attached four long 
ropes which enabled them to drag Our Lord cruelly 
back and forth as they pleaised. All these cords and 
bonds were entirely new, and preparations for this 
special purpose seem to have been under way ever 
since the plan to capture Jesus had been under 
deliberation. 

Several more torches were now lighted, and the 
cruel procession set forwards. The van was formed 
by ten guards, next came the jailers, hauling Jesus 
with their ropes, then the mocking Pharisees, while 
the other ten soldiers brought up the rear. Loud- 

133 



The Passion of Jesus ChnSl. 



lamenting, and almo^ out of their senses, the disciples 
hovered here and there at a di^ance. John was 
somewhat closer, in behind the rear guard, and the 
Pharisees ordered the soldiers to seize that man. 

So some of them turned round and rushed at him. 
He fled, and as they grasped the kerchief round his 
neck, he let it go and escaped. He had laid his 
clocik aside, and tucked up his sleeveless undergar- 
ment in order to flee the more easily. But round his 
neck, head and arms he had wound that narrow ^rip 
of cloth which the Jews were accu^omed to wear. 

The jailers maltreated Jesus mo^ cruelly, jerked 
Him back and forth, and let Him feel the full measure 
of their wantonness and malice. Their chief motive 
in adling thus was human respedt, a cringing desire to 
please the six officers whom they knew to be filled 
with hatred and rage again^ Jesus. The road itself 
was rough and unplecisant, and they sought out the 
wor^ spots, rocks and mud and clods. For them- 
selves they found good ^epping-ground. They kept 
the ropes drawn tight, and so Jesus had to go ju^ 
where they dragged Him. In their hands they had 
knotted cords, wherewith they urged Him on like a 
butcher driving cattle to slaughter, all amid such vile 
mockery as 'twould be revolting to repeat. 

Jesus was barefooted. Over the ordinary inner 
clothing He wore a shirt-like garment woven of wool, 
and over that a kind of cloak. Under their clothing 
the disciples, like all Jews, wore a scapular. It 
consi^ed of two pieces of cloth, Wretched over the 
shoulders and hanging down over the back and breait, 
tied together with ^aps behind the shoulders but 
134 



Our Lord Made Captive, 



open at the sides. Around the wai^ they wore a 
girdle from which hung down four pieces of cloth that 
were bound together and served as underclothing. I 
have yet to mention that 1 saw no warrant or document 
shown to Our Lord before He vfas taken. His captors 
treated Him as free game, as one outside the pale 
of law. 

Jesus is Pushed Off the Bridge 
into the Brook. 

The procession went rapidly forwetfds. On leav- 
ing the road between the two gardens it turned to 
the right along the weit side of the Garden of Geth- 
semani. A short di^ance brought them to a bridge 
over the brook Cedron. Twas not by this bridge 
that Jesus had reached the Gcurden of Olives. He 
had followed a roundabout way through the Valley 
of Josaphat, and crossed the Cedron by a bridge more 
to the south. The bridge He was led over now was 
very long, as it not merely spanned the Cedron, 
which at this spot flowed in more closely to Mount 
Olivet, but also reached on some di^ance across the 
uneven elevations of the valley, forming a ^one road 
suitable for vehicles. Even before the procession 
reached the bridge I saw Jesus fall twice to the 
ground, as a result of merciless pulling and dragging 
on the part of the jailers. The nearer they came to 
the middle of the bridge, the more mercilessly did they 
exercise their knavery on him. Finally, at a spot 
where the footway was more than a man's height 
above the water, they thru^ the poor Captive from the 
bridge into the brook, ^ill holding Him by the long 

135 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



ropes, railing at Him and telling Him now to drink 
His full. 

Only Divine assi^ance prevented Him from suf- 
fering deadly injury. He alighted on His knees, and 
fell forwards on His face, which the hard ^ony stream- 
bed, but slightly covered with water, would have seri- 
ously wounded, had He not thrown His tied and 
twined hands forwards to save it. His hands were 
free from the belt, loosened I know not how, whether 
by Divine aid or by a previous adl of the jailers. The 
forms of His knees, feet, elbows and fingers were by 
God's will impressed into the ^ony ground and 
became in later times objedls of reverence. People 
in general no longer believe in such things, but I have 
often seen in vision these impressions in ^one made 
by the feet of patriarchs and prophets, of Jesus, of 
Our Blessed Lady, and of some other saints. The 
rocks were not as hard and unbelieving as the hearts 
of men, and in tremendous moments gave te^imony 
that the truth makes impressions upon them. 

Though Jesus felt a violent thiril after His Agony 
in the garden I had not seen Him take any kind of 
liquid. But now I saw Him with difficulty drink from 
the ^ream where He had been thrown, and heard 
Him speak of the fulfillment of a prophetic psalm 
verse that related to His drinking from a brook by 
the wayside. (Ps. 109, v. 7.) 

The jailers on the bridge never let go their hold 
on the ropes. As it was too much labor for them to 
draw Him out again, and a wall on the other side 
hindered them from letting Him wade through the 
^ream, they proceeded to jerk Him back through the 

136 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



Cedron, descended to the edge, and dragged Him 
backwards out of the brook and up along its high 
bank. And now the merciless wretches began again 
to drive the poor Sufferer across the bridge, dragging 
and jerking at His ropes, pushing Him, ^riking Him, 
mocking Him, cursing Him. His long woolen gar- 
ment, weighed down with water, lay heavily on His 
limbs. He was hardly able to move at all, and at 
the other side of the bridge fell once more to the 
ground. They jerked Him again to His feet amid a 
shower of blows, and tucked up His wet garment at 
His belt amid a running fire of the vile^ je^ and 
mockeries. They made a je^ about girding the loins 
for the Paschal lamb, and others similar in nature. 

*Twas not yet midnight when I saw Jesus and the 
four jailers on the other side of the Cedron. The road 
was badly torn and rent, with but little walking space, 
afforded by footpaths that ran along, now higher, now 
lower, at the side. Over this road, over its sharp 
^ones and remnants of rock, over its thorns and this- 
tles, Jesus was mercilessly dragged along by His 
cursing and ^riking captors. The six wicked officials 
^ayed near Him wherever the road permitted. Each 
of them had a sort of goad in his hand, and used it to 
shove Our Savior, to prick Him, or to ^rike Him. 
Whenever with His bare and bleeding feet Jesus was 
dragged by the jailers over spots particularly notice- 
able for sharp ^ones or for nettles and thorns. His 
loving Heart was ^ill more deeply wounded by the 
jeers and taunts of the six Pharisees. ''Here at lea^ 
His forerunner, John the Bapti^ has prepared no 
very good way for Him." "The word of Malachy : *I 

137 



The Passion of Jesus Chriit, 



send My angel before Thy face to prepare Thy way', 
doesn't hold good here." "Why dosen't He raise 
John from the dead to prepare His way before Him T* 
The officials encouraged one another in these gibes 
and taunts by insolent laughter. And every fresh 
jeer they brought out was but another signal for 
renewed ill-treatment of poor Jesus by the jailers. 

When in this manner they had driven Our Lord 
along for some time, they noticed several persons 
hovering at some di^ance round the line of march. 
These were disciples, who on the report that Jesus 
was being led away captive had gathered in from 
Bethphage and other places of refuge in order to ob- 
serve cautiously what would happen to their Master. 
Our Lord's captors now became uneasy lest they be 
fallen upon and their Captive taken from them. So 
they began to shout out signals in the direction of 
Ophel, in order to summon to their aid the reenforce- 
ment that was waiting them there. 

The procession was ^ill some minutes distance 
from the gate, which is south of the Temple and leads 
through the suburb called Ophel to Mount Sion, where 
Annas and Caiphas lived, when I saw a company of 
fifty soldiers coming forth as reenforcement. They 
were divided into three bands. In the fir^ band I 
counted ten, in the la^ fifteen, so there were twenty- 
five in the third. They carried several torches. They 
were very insolent and malicious, and filled the air 
with shouting and acclamations to announce their 
coming and to applaud the captors of Jesus to their 
vid:ory. They approached with great ado and hub- 
bub. While the foremo^ band was mingling with the 
138 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



body that guarded Jesus, I saw Malchus and several 
others in the rear take advantage of the mcineuver to 
escape secretly in the direction of Mount Olivet. 

Our Blessed Lady and the 
Holy Women. 

On seeing these torch-lighted, huzza-shouting 
bands hsiilening from Ophel to aid the on-coming pro- 
cession, the hovering disciples scattered in different 
diredlions. But I saw that anguish had once more 
driven Our Blessed Lady out into the Valley of 
Josaphat, With her were nine holy women : Martha, 
Magdalen, Mary of Cleophas, Mary of Salome, Meiry 
of Mark, Susanna, Joanna of Chusa, Veronica, and 
Salome. They were Rationed south of Gethsemani 
opposite that grotto on Mount Olivet where Jesus 
usually went to pray. With them I saw Lazarus, John 
of Mark, the son of Veronica, and the son of Simeon. 
The latter had been, along with Nathanael, in the 
company of the eight Apostles in Gethsemani, and 
had made his way out ^aight through the tumult. 
They had told their news to the holy women, and now 
all heard the shouts and saw the torches of the com- 
bining bands of soldiers. Our Blessed Lady lost out- 
ward consciousness and sank helpless into the arms 
of the holy women around her. The latter drew back 
with her a little way, intending to bring her again to 
the house of Mary of Mark as soon as the noisy 
marauders would go by. 

The fifty soldiers had been ordered forth out of 
a division of three hundred men which had suddenly 

139 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



marched into Ophel and occupied the gates and the 
streets of the suburb and its environs. The traitor 
Judas had reminded the high priests that the inhabi- 
tants of Ophel, chiefly day-laborers, wood-cutters, and 
water-carriers of the Temple, were the mo^ violent 
followers of Jesus, and might easily attempt to release 
Him when passing through their mid^. The traitor 
knew full well that many of these poor workmen had 
received from Jesus in^rudtion, and alms, and health, 
and consolation. 

Here, too, in Ophel it was where Jesus on His 
road from Bethania to Hebron in order to console the 
friends of John the Bapti^ who had been murdered 
in Machaerus — here it was He had topped for a 
while and had healed so many hod-Ccirriers and other 
poor day-laborers who had been injured in the col- 
lapse of the great tower of Siloe. After the descent of 
the Holy Gho^ mo^ of these people joined the early 
Chri^ian community. When the Chri^ians begem to 
draw apeurt from the Jews, Ophel was extended by 
new settlements till finally its huts and tents reached 
^raight across the valley as far as Mount Olivet. Here 
too it was that Stephen found the right opening for 
his zeal. 

The shouts of the invading division of three 
hundred had awakened the good people of Ophel. 
They hurried from their houses into the ^eets and 
out to the gates, and asked the soldiers the cause of 
the uproar. But the latter, a mob of degraded and 
insolent slaves, merely jeered at them and drove them 
back into their houses. But here and there the peo- 
ple heard these words as explanation : "Jesus, the 
140 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



criminal, your false prophet, is being brought in cap- 
tive. The high priest is going to put a ^op to His 
trade, He will have to climb the cross." Soon there- 
fore, the awakening town filled the night with cries of 
woe. The poor people, men and women, ran here 
and there lamenting, or fell upon their knees with 
out^retched arms, crying aloud to Heaven for mercy, 
and commemorating the blessings received from 
Jesus. But the soldiers ceased not to ^rike them, 
to press upon them, and force them back on all hands 
into their houses, cursing Our Savior in the meantime 
with the words : "Here is evident proof that He is an 
in^igator of the people." Still they did not attempt 
to re^ore absolute quiet, fearing that more violent 
measures would only rouse the people to the extreme 
of excitement. So they contented themselves with 
holding the crowds back from the road o'er which 
the procession was to pass through Ophel. 

Meanwhile the cruel gang was bringing our 
maltreated Savior ever nearer to the gate. Our Lord 
had fallen repeatedly to the ground, and seemed 
unable to go farther. This gave a compeissionate 
soldier opportunity to remark : "You see yourselves 
that the wretched man can't go on like this. If we 
want to bring Him alive before the high prie^, you 
will have to loosen the cords on His hands, so He may 
save Himself when He falls." While the procession 
halted, and the jailers were loosening His fetters, 
another compassionate soldier brought Him a drink 
from a near-by well. He drew the water in a vessel 
made of bark, a vessel often used here in^ead of a 
cup by soldiers and travelers. Jesus spoke a word of 

141 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 

thanks to this man, and mentioned a saying of the 
prophets about "quenching thirit with living water" 
or "breams of living water" — I do not recall di^indtly. 
On hearing this the officials began again to mock and 
curse Him. They accused Him of boating and 
blasphemy. Let Him cease His vain words: He 
would never again give drink to a bea^ let alone to a 
man. But those two men, the one who had caused 
His bonds to be loosened, and the other who had 
given Him to drink — I saw them both interiorly 
illuminated by grace. They were converted even be- 
fore the death of Jesus and after His death became 
disciples in the community. I did know their names, 
and the names they bore later when disciples, and all 
that concerned them. But the whole ^ory is too long. 
It is impossible to retain it all. 

Compassion Shown 
by the Poor People of Ophel. 

Amid continued ill-treatment the procession 
again set forward, moving uphill through the gate of 
Ophel. Here it was received by the heart-rending 
leunentations of a people ^ill full of gratitude for 
Jesus. Only by great exertion could the soldiers 
keep back the in-surging crowds of men and women. 
The poor people pressed in on all sides, wringing 
their hands, and crying out to Our Lord on bended 
knees and with out^retched arms: "Release fiiis 
Man and let us have Him ! Who else will help us, 
heal us, console us ! Let us have Him !" Oh, 'twas 
a sight to rend the heart asunder: There Wcis Jesus, 

142 



Out Lord Made Captive. 



pale, disfigured, bruised from head to foot, His hair 
torn and dishevelled, His garments bedraggled and 
untidily tucked up. He Himself jerked about with 
ropes, knocked back and forth with clubs, goaded 
onwards by impudent, half-naked jailers, like some 
poor half-unconscious animal of sacrifice, dragged by 
insolent soldiers through surging crowds of thankful 
people, while they reached out to Him with hands 
cured by Him from paralysis, prayed to Him with 
tongues loosed by Him from dumbness, gazed after 
Him and wept over Him with eyes illumined by Him 
from blindness. 

Already in the valley of the Cedron the soldiers 
had been joined by a rabble of idle vagabonds. They 
had been roused by the soldiers shouting, and, 
encouraged by the adherents of Annas and Caiphas 
and other enemies of Jesus, had failed in line and 
helped to swell the ^ream of mockery cOid derision. 
And now they were doing their share of jeering and 
cursing the good people of Ophel. — In shape Ophel 
is recJly a hill. Midway through it I saw a spot free 
of buildings, the higher point in the town. As the 
procession descended from this point it again passed 
through a gate in the wall. 

The people were not allowed to follow the pro- 
cession beyond the gate. The procession itself now 
descended somewhat into the valley. To the right 
lay some great ^rudlure, the remains, I think, of 
Solomon's building. On the left was the Pool of 
Bethsaida. Onwards they went, always in we^erly 
direction, down along a ^reet in the valley called 
Millo. Then they turned somewhat to the south, as- 

143 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



cended some high ^airs up to Mount Sion, and 
marched on to the house of Annas. Along the whole 
way ill-treatment and mockery never ceased. The 
vile-minded jaulers were repeatedly led to give new 
proofs of their cruelty by new arrivals from the city 
who came to swell the ranks of the rabble. From 
Mount Olivet to where they now were Jesus had fallen 
several times. 

The inhabitants of Ophel were ^ill penetrated 
with fear and sadness when a new scene again called 
forth their sympathies. On her way from the valley 
of the Cedron back to the house of Mary of Mark, 
which was at the foot of Mount Sion, the Mother of 
Jesus was led by her holy companions and friends 
through the ^eets of Ophel. When the good people 
recognized her, their feelings once more broke forth in 
cries and lamentations. So close did the multitude 
press in around the holy company that Our Blessed 
Lady was all but carried on their hands. 

Mary^s pain of soul made her speechless. Arrived 
at the house of Mary of Mark, she did not open her 
lips till John came. Then she began to ask que^ions 
and to mourn over their answers. He told her all he 
had seen since Jesus left the Supper Room till now. 
— Sometime later Our Lady was conducted to the 
we^ side of the city, to the house of Martha, near the 
e^ate of Lazarus. But she was led there by a round- 
about way, in order not to afflidl her beyond "bounds 
on the ^eets o'er which Jesus had been led. 

Peter and John had followed the procession at a 
di^ance. When the latter entered the city they 
hurried away to some good acquaintances whom 
144 



Our Lord Made Captive. 

John had among the servants of the high prieils. 
They hoped to get an opportunity to enter the court- 
rooms whither their Ma^er was being led. These 
acqucuntances were a class of messengers, who were 
now engaged in running round the city in order to 
waken and summon to court a great number of men, 
and especially the ancients out of many of the differ- 
ent classes. While glad to eiid the Apo^les, they 
knew no other way to do so than to give Peter and 
John messenger cloaks like their own. The Apo^les 
could eissiil in the task of carrying messages, cind the 
cloaks would then serve to bring them into court 
among the messengers, soldiers, false wittnesses and 
bribed vagabonds, everyone else being expelled. 

Now Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and 
other well-disposed persons were members of the 
Council. So in inviting these the Apo^les were 
inviting friends of their Mci^er, friends whom the 
Pharisees might purposely not have invited. — Mean- 
while Judas, like an insane criminal, the devil at his 
side, was wandering aimlessly back and forth eimong 
the heaps of city refuse piled along the ^eep hill- 
sides south of Jerusalem. 

Preparations Made by the Elnemies of Jesus. 

Annas 2uid Caiphas had been at once informed of 
the capture of Jesus, and were now mo^ busily 
occupied in arrangements for His reception. Their 
halls of ju^ice were illuminated, cdl approaches 
provided with guards, and their messengers were 
scattered through the city to call together the mem- 

145 

10 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



bers of the Council, the Scribes, and all who were to 
have any share in the trial. Many of these had 
already been around Caiphas when Judas set out on 
his traitorous excursion, and had remained with the 
high prie^ to await results. In addition to these, 
there were summoned the ancients among the citi- 
zens of three different classes. Moreover, as the 
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians had, in prep- 
aration for the Fea^, gradually been assembling in 
Jerusalem, and as there had long been between them 
and the Sanhedrim an under^anding that Jesus was 
to be taken captive, the high prie^ had now merely 
to mu^er the li^s he had of their names, to summon 
from among them the mo^ violent enemies of Jesus, 
and to command them, everyone in his own circle, to 
get together whatever they could of proofs and 
witnesses and come along to court. 

Foremo^ among these enemies were the Pharisees 
and Sadducees and other wicked men from Nazareth, 
Capharnaum, Thirza, Gabara, Jotapata, Siloe and 
other places. Jesus had so often put them to deeped 
shame by telling them the truth before all the people 
that they were all embittered and set on revenge. So 
they went to their respedtive encampments to seek 
out among the pilgrims from their respective cities 
some low scoundrels who might be won with gold to 
join in the wild clamor of accusations again^ Jesus. 
But none could be found who could Bring again^ 
Him aught else than open lies, calumnies, and old-time 
accusations, numberless times already refuted by 
Him in their s3magogues. 

All these enemies from places outside of Jerusalem 

146 



Our Lord Made Captive, 



were now gradually assembling in the court-room of 
Caiphas, and with them the Pharisees and Sadducees 
from Jerusalem itself, the latter also followed by their 
mob of liars. Among them were many vengeance- 
seeking dealers whom He had ca^ out of the Temple; 
many pompous doctors whom He had silenced before 
the assembled people; many also, it would seem, who 
could not forgive Him for putting them to shame so 
long ago when the twelve-year old Child fir^ taught 
in that holy place. Further were to be seen: im- 
penitent sinners whom He had refused to heal; sinners 
fallen back into sin and therefore become sick again; 
vain-glorious youths whom He had not received as 
disciples; malicious heirs enraged at Him for turning 
to the poor so much property expedled by them- 
selves; criminals whose associates He had converted, 
debauchees whose vidims He had led to virtue; 
would-be inheritors of wealth, owners of which He 
had healed; cowardly men-plecisers ready for all 
wickedness; many wretches with souls at war with ail 
that is holy, and therefore raging instruments of 
Satan again^ the Holy of Holies. 

This mass of vermin, scraped together from the 
great body of the Jewish people assembled for the 
Paisch, was gradually got in motion and began to 
ilream from all sides into the palace of Caiphas, 
there to assist in besmirching and condemning the 
true Pasch, the spotless Lamb who takes upon 
Himself the sins of the world, in order to atone for 
them cOid de^roy them. 

While this slimy mass was rolling inwards upon 
the Pure^ One, many good people, friends of Jesus, 

147 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 

were likewise aroused. Something my^erious was 
taking place, they knew not what. So they came 
inquiring here and there, hecurd the news, began to 
lament and were driven away, or kept silence and 
were looked at askemce. Others, well-minded but 
more weak, or only half well-minded, took scandal 
and yielded to the temptation to waver. The number 
of those who remained faithful was not Icirge. Things 
went then as they do now. Many a man professes 
Chri^ianity as long as it is respedtable, but is ashamed 
of the Cross when it becomes unpopular. But even 
when the process again^ Jesus was only beginning, 
many friends quailed before its hollowness, its inju^ice, 
its rage, its vileness, its Heaven-crying treatment of 
Our Savior. Their hearts failed them, and they slip- 
ped away in silence and despondency. 

A Glance Round Jerusalem at This Hour. 

The dwellers in the crowded city and the pilgrims 
in their encampments near-by had concluded their 
usual prayers and religious usages and were sunk in 
quiet slumber, when the news that Jesus was taken 
roused friend and foe alike. Here and there people 
come to their doors to ask passing acquaintances for 
news. Again passers-by enter houses to have a word 
with sympathizers. And, like today on such occa- 
sions, many malicious words are to be heard : "Well, 
Lazarus and his sixers will now find out their new 
friend. Joanna of Chusa, Susanna, Salome, and 
Mary, mother of Mark, will be sorry, but too late. 
And how ashamed will Sirach's wife, Seraphia, feel 
148 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



before her husband, who has so often chided her for 
belonging to the Galilean. All the followers of this 
fanatical peace-di^urber were wont to look with pity 
on all who were not of their opinion, and now many 
of them will not know where to hide their heads. 
No danger now of seeing anyone scatter peilm-leaves, 
mantles and veils under the feet of His beait of 
burden. Serves them right, these hjrpocrites, who 
always want to be better ihan others ! Serves them 
right to be called into court; they are tied up in this 
affair .... The matter had deeper roots thein people 
thought. I wonder what Nicodemus and Joseph of 
Arimathea will do. They were not to be tru^ed, 
people felt that long ago. They were sharp fellows, 
but everything mu^ come to light now, etc." Such 
and similar expressions are to be heeird from the 
mouths of many people, embittered again^ families, 
and especially again^ the holy women, who cling to 
Jesus and have even given Him public testimony. 

Still the city is not as yet everywhere a^ir, but 
only in those localities where the messengers have 
brought their invitations and the Pharisees are seeking 
false witnesses. The mo^ excited spot is where the 
^eets merge into the way that leads up to Sion. 
Sparks of anger and hate seem to be springing up in 
so many different points of the city, and then to be 
running on through the ^eets till they meet and 
unite with others, becoming ever denser and stronger, 
till finally the dull ^ream of fire pours itself into the 
court-room of Caiphas on Mount Sion. 

The Roman soldiers had no sheire in these pro- 
ceedings, but all their outpo^ have been reenforced, 

149 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH, 



and their various divisions are all close together. 
They keep a sharp watch on all that goes on. They 
are always here for the Pasch, by reason of the im- 
mense concourse of people. They are always calm, 
alert, and very cautious. The rabble now assembling 
avoids them as much as possible. The Pharisaical 
Jews have an immense dislike of being signalled by 
these spiteful Romans. Pilate, of course, has been 
informed by the high prie^ why they have occupied 
with soldiers the suburb of Ophel and part of Mount 
Sion. But they do not tru^ him, nor he them. He 
too is awake, is receiving reports and giving orders. 
His wife is on her couch, sunk in deep sleep, but ^ill 
re^less, sighing and weeping, as if oppressed by 
dreams. She sleeps, but is learning much, much more 
than Pilate. 

But nowhere else in Jerusalem is there such 
touching S5mipathy with Jesus as in Ophel. The poor 
menieds who lodge here had been sunk in slumber 
when the news of terror broke in upon them so sud- 
denly through the ^ill night. Their Teacher, their 
Benefactor, had passed before their eyes, crushed and 
beaten into shapelessness, like some gruesome spedlre 
of night. And following *Him the Dolorous Mother 
and her friends had again called forth their sympathy 
and lamentations. Surely sad it is to see the sorrow- 
^ricken One hurrying with her companions at forbid- 
ding midnight hour through the Greets of Jerusalem. 
From one friendly house they hurried to another, 
full of mode^ fesir, hiding in comers from crowds of 
insolent psissers-by, often acco^ed in derision like bad 
women, often harrowed by malignant words again^ 
150 



Out Lord Made Captive, 



Jesus, seldom catching a word of sympadiy for His 
cause. Arrived at last in their place of refuge, they 
sink down exhausted^ amid tears and wringing of 
hands. All equally disconsolate, they support one 
another, embrace one another, or else sit apart in 
lonely sorrow, their heads muJfled and supported on 
their knees. There comes a knock at the door — they 
listen in silence and fear — the knock is soft and 
low — *tis not that of an enemy — tremblingly th^ 
open — 'tis a friend of their Master or some servant 
of a friend — they press round him with anxious 
questionings — new sorrows strike their ears and 
hearts — they cannot rest — once again they hurry 
forth upon the streets — again the search is in vain — and 
with redoubled pain they again returned home. 

Most of the Apostles and disciples are now roam- 
ing about in the valleys near Jerusalem, or are hiding 
in the caverns on Mount Olivet They shrink back 
on meeting one another unawares, and ask one another 
for counsel, while every approaching footstep inter- 
rupts their fearful communications. Never long in 
one place, they move here and there, some singly 
towards the town, others to acquaintances in the 
Easter encampments in order to get the latest accounts 
or to have messengers sent into the city. Many climb 
up the sides of Mount Olivet and observe in fear the 
torch-lighted, loud-shouting masses moving on towards 
Sion, interpret what they see in a hundred ways they 
hurry down again into the valley in order to get some 
sure intelligence. The stillness of night becomes ever 
louder with the tumult round the court of Caiphas. 
The entire vicinity sparkles with torches and burning 

151 



The Passion of Jesus ChriS:. 



pans of pitch. Round about the city resounds the bel- 
lowing of the many bea^ of burden and animals of 
sacrifice brought by numberless pilgrims into the 
encampments. And how touching comes through the 
night the helpless, humble bleating of the innocent 
lambs that are to be sacrificed in the Temple tomor- 
row. Only One shall be offered of His own accord, 
"because He has willed it," and yet He opens not His 
mouth. Like a sheep led to slaughter, like a lamb 
before the shearer. He opens not His mouth — our 
pure and spotless Ea^er Lamb, Jesus Chri^. 

Bending down over all this are heavens full of 
wonder and anguish, and through them roams a 
threatening moon, obscured with livid spots, looking 
sick and horrified, unwilling to wax full — for then 
Jesus is no more. And out there to the south, along 
the ^eep hill-sides of the valley of Hinnom, roams the 
traitor Judas Iscariol. Lonely, without companions, 
lacerated by an evil conscience, fleeing his own shad- 
ow, hotly pursued by Satan, he wandered wildly over 
swamps, over piles of rubbish and dung, over the 
trackless gruesome tradls of an accursed region. And 
thousands of devils are abroad driving and rushing 
men on to sin. Hell's gates are open and everywhere 
is felt its sin-compelling power. Self-confounding, 
self-entangling, Satan's rage, nevertheless swells, and 
grows with con^antly redoubling might. And while 
fiercer Weix his exertions, ever more crushing is the 
burden laid upon the Lamb. It does no sin Itself, but 
upon It lies the weight of Satan's fiendish efforts. 
Though the Ju^5t One trangress not, yet shall lie crush- 
ingly upon Him the self-de^roying sin of His enemies. 
152 



Our Lord Made Captive. 



Meantime the good angels tremble between sor- 
row and joy. They would beg before God*s throne 
for leave to help, but can only be abounded and 
sink in adoration before this my^ery of Ju^ice and 
Mercy — a my^ery without beginning in the Heavenly 
Holy of Holies and now ju^ approaching its consum- 
mation on earth. For the angels, too, believe in God 
the Father, the Almighty Creator of Heaven and 
earth, and in Jesus Chri^ His only Son, Our Lord, 
who was conceived by the Holy Gho^, born of the 
Virgin Mary, who this very night enters upon His 
Passion under Pontius Pilate, who tomorrow will be 
crucified, will die and be buried, who will descend 
into hell, will rise again the third day from the dead; 
who will ascend into Heaven, there to sit at the right 
hand of God, the Father Almighty, from whence He 
shall come to judge the living and the dead. They 
believe in the Holy Gho^, in one holy Catholic 
Church, in the Communion of Saints, forgiveness of 
sins, resurredlion of the body, and life everla^ing. 

Such are a few of the scenes that wrote them- 
selves in those few minutes into one poor sinful heart 
and filled it to burning with anguish and sorrow and 
consolation and S5mipathy — in those minutes when 
contemplation, £is if seeking for aid, turned from the 
cruelties round its captive Ma^er to rove over Jeru- 
salem in that of all time mo^ solemn midnight hour, 
the hour when infinite Ju^ice and infinite Mercy met 
together, and embraced, and intertwined, and thus 
interwoven showed forth in the God-man the holie^ 
of all Divine and human deeds, the deed of infinite 
punishment of sin, infinite mercy for man. 

153 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



Jesus before Annas. 

It was about midnigbt when Jesus reached the 
court of Annas. Through an illuminated outer court 
He was led into a hall, in size as large as a small 
church. Opposite the entrance, upon a high plat- 
form, sat Annas, surrounded by eight and twenty 
counselors. Jesus, ^ill surrounded by a number of 
the soldiers who had taken Him captive, was jerked 
by the hangmen who ^ill held Him some di^ance up 
the fairway that led to the platform. The hall around 
was crowded with soldiers, rowdies and vagabonds, 
with deriding Jews and servants of Annas, and some 
of the witnesses who were later to be employed in 
the court of Caiphas. Annas could scarcely await 
the arrival of Our Savior. He fairly sparkled with 
malicious joy and Wealthy tricky derision. The court 
over which he presided had the duty of keeping pure 
the dodlrines of the Synagogue, and of adting as 
accuser before the high prie^, and he was now seated 
here with a committee chosen for this purpose. 

Pale, exhau^ed, in wet and mud-covered gar- 
ment. His hands tied. His body held by hangman 
ropes, with bowed head and in silence — thus Jesus 
^ood before Annas. And the lank and lean old 
scoundrel, with the scraggy beard, and an expression 
of cold and scornful Jewish pride, assumed an hypo- 
critical half-smile, as if highly a^onished at finding 
Jesus to be the prisoner he was awaiting. I cannot 
give his words exadlly, but they ran somewhat as 
follows: "Well, ju^ look there! Jesus of Nazareth! 
Is it really thou ? Where are thy disciples ? Where 
154 



Jesus before Annas. 



thy great concourse of followers? Where thy king- 
dom ? Thy affairs seem to have taken quite a turn. 
Thy insolence has come to an end. Enough have 
we seen of thy blasphemies again^ God, offences 
again^ His prieits and desecrations of His Sabbath. 
Who are thy disciples? Where are they? Yes, now 
thou keepeit silence. Speak up, peace-di^urber ! 
Unholy seducer ! O yes, thou hail already eaten the 
Pasch — eaten it in an unlawful manner, at an unlaw- 
ful time, in an unlawful place. Who told thee to 
introduce new dodlrines ? Who gave thee the right 
to teach ? Where did^ thou go to school ? Speak 
out ! What is this teaching of thine that turns every- 
thing topsy-turvy? Speak! Use thy tongue ! What 
do^thou teach?" 

Jesus raised His weary head, looked Annas in the 
face, and said : "I have taught publicly in sight of all 
the people. I have always taught in the sjmagogues 
and in the Temple where all the Jews come together, 
and in secret I have spoken nothing. Why aske^ 
thou Me? Ask those who have heard Me, what I 
have said to them. Behold, they know what I have 
spoken." 

"Answerest Thou So the High Priest?" 

The rage and scorn visible in the face of Annas 
at these words led an infamous, man-pleasing court- 
attendant to lift his iron-gloved hand and ^ike Our 
Lord a ringing blow on mouth and cheek, while say- 
ing: "Answered thou so the high prie^?" The 
Running blow, and the simultaneous jerks and pulls 

155 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 



from the hangmen, threw Jesus sideways down upon 
the ^eps, the blood flowing down His face; derision, 
murmurs, laughter and cursing filled the hall. With 
jerks and blows they brought Him again to His feet, 
and He said calmly: "If I have spoken evil, give 
testimony thereof; but if I have spoken well, why 
^rike^ thou Me?" 

Annas, maddened with rage at the calmness of 
his prisoner, now called upon those present to satisfy 
the demand of Jesus by telling what they knew of His 
dodrine. And now the promiscuous rabble struck 
up a confused, loud-crying chorus of insult and slsm- 
der. He had said He was a king; God was His 
Father; the Pharisees were adulterers. He incited 
the people to rebellion; He performed cures on the 
Sabbath by Beelzebub; the people in Ophel were 
wild about Him, called Him their Savior and Prophet; 
He let men call Him Son of God; He called Himself 
the Messenger of God. He cried *woe* over Jerusa- 
lem, and said that the city would perish. He did not 
observe the faits, was followed around by immense 
crowds, ate with those who were unclean, with hea- 
thens, publicans and sinners, was found in the com- 
pany of adulteresses and bad women. Only a little 
while ago, at the gate of Ophel, He had said that He 
would be^ow the water of eternal life upon one who 
had given Him a drink, and that the latter would 
never thirst again. He misled the people by words 
of double mecming. He wasted the money and goods 
of others. He told men all kinds of falsehoods about 
His kingdom, etc. etc. 

All these accusations were thrown at Our Lord 

156 



Jesus before Annas. 



in the wildest confusion. The witnesses Pepped be- 
fore Him and flung their insults in His face, the 
hangmen jerked Him back and forth, saying : "Speak, 
answer," while every now and then scornful words 
eind laughter came through the din from Annas and 
his counselors : "So, that is thy beautiful dodlrine ! 
What do^ thou say now ? That is thy public teaching, 
is it ? The country is evidently full of it. Can^ thou 
not do some teaching here ? Why do^ thou not give 
some command, O king, thou messenger from God — 
why do^ thou not prove thy mission?" 

Every such word from the judges was followed by 
a fresh outbreak of blows and jerks and insults on the 
part of the hangmen and by^anders, all anxious to 
outdo the insolent fellow who had ^ruck Our Lord 
in the face. 

While Jesus reeled to and fro Annas continued 
his cold sarca^ic invedlive : "Who art thou ? What 
kind of a king ? What kind of a legate? I had thought 
thou wert the son of some obscure carpenter. Art 
thou perhaps Elias who went up in the chariot of fire ? 
*Tis said he is ^ill alive, and thou art able to make 
thyself invisible, and ha^ oft in this way made thine 
escape. Or art thou even Malachy ? Thou hait ever 
boated about him and do^ refer his prophecies to 
thyself. About him too there is a foolish belief that 
he had no father, that he was an angel, that he never 
really died — surely a fine opportunity for a seducer 
to pretend to be the prophet. Once more, what sort 
of a king art thou, thou more than Solomon, as thou 
ha^ called thyself? Well, then, if king thou be, I 
mu^ no longer refuse thee the title of thy kingdom." 

157 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



A slip of parchment about two inches wide and 
a foot long was now handed to Annas, who laid it on 
a piece of wood held before him and wrote on it with 
a reed-pen a row of large letters, each of which ^ood 
for an accusation again^ Our Lord. This slip he 
then rolled up and thru^ into a small bottle-gourd, 
closing the upper end of the latter with a cork. The 
gourd itself he made fa^ to the end of a cane. The 
mock-scepter was thus completed, and Annas had it 
presented to his prisoner, while he again addressed 
Jesus in his usual cold sarca^ic tones : "Here, then, 
is thy royal scepter. Within it are written all thy 
titles, and rights, and dignities. Carry them to the 
high prie^, that in them he may recognize thy mission 
and thy kingdom, and treat thee as becomes thy 
Nation. Bind the hands of this king and lead him to 
the high prie^". 

The hands of Jesus, which had been untied were 
crossed before His brea^ and, the mock-scepter be- 
tween them, were again tightly bound together. And 
in this guise, amid loud laughter and cries of derision, 
and cruel maltreatment. He was led out of the hall of 
Anncis away to the court of Caiphas. 

Jesus Led from Annas to Caiphas. 
From the house of Annas to that of Caiphas is a 
di^ance of scarcely three hundred paces. The road, 
flanked part of the way by the walls of some small 
houses belonging to the court of Caiphas, was illumi- 
nated by fire-pans supported on poles, and was filled 
with a raging, howling crowd of Jews. Scarcely could 
the soldiers keep the multitude back. Those who 
158 



Jesus before Annas. 



had hesird the insulting sarcasms of Annas now 
repeated them in their own way for the benefit of the 
rabble, so that Jesus w£is mocked and misused along 
the whole way. I saw how court policemen of all 
kinds were driving back from the line of march some 
small bands of S5niipathizers who were lamenting over 
Jesus, they encouraged those who surpassed others in 
insults and accusations, di^ributed money among 
them, and allowed them to enter the court of Caiphas 
and to bring companions with them. 

The Court of Caiphas. 

In the building and around it torches and lamps 
were to be seen everywhere. 'Tw£is as bright as 
day. Moreover, in the middle of the court shone the 
great fire-pit. This fire-pit looks like an oven, sunk 
into the ground, and open at the top, where some 
kind of combu^ible is thrown in as fuel. From the 
pit there rise at the sides horn-like projections. They 
are pipes to lead away the smoke. But fire could be 
seen in the middle. Pressing close to the fire were 
soldiers, court policemen, vagabonds of all kinds, 
witnesses, bribed and vile-minded. Mingled with 
them were women, even pro^itutes. They were 
passing round some red-colored beverage and were 
baking cakes to get money from the soldiers. There 
W21S as much hurly-burly and confusion as if carnival 
were going on. 

Those invited were already nearly all gathered 
round Caiphas, who had his seat on a semicircular 
platform at the further end of the entrance-hall. The 
hall itself was crowded with accusers and false wit- 

159 



The Passion of Jesus C/iriS. 



nesses. Many who tried to force their way in were 
violently pushed back. 

Shortly before the arrival of the band that led 
Jesus, Peter and John, clothed in their messenger 
cloaks, came into the outer court-yard in front of the 
house. With the aid of the servant whom he knew, 
John succeeded in getting through the gate that led 
into the inner court-yard. But this gate was closed 
after him by reason of the on-pressing crowd. Peter 
had been caught in the surging mass and found the 
gate closed when he reached it. The maid at the 
gate would not let him in. John on the inside asked 
her to open the gate. But Peter would not have 
gotten in, were it not for the assi^ance of Nicodemus 
and Joseph of Arimathea who likewise arrived at this 
moment. The two Apo^les gave back to the serv- 
ants the cloaks they had received, passed on into the 
entrance-hall, and silently took their places in the 
crowd on the right, at a spot where they could see 
the judges on their seats in front Caiphsis was 
already seated on his chair of juilice, at the center of 
the semicircular platform, to which a flight of ^eps 
led up from the floor. Around him sat about seventy 
members of the Sanhedrim. On both sides, some 
sitting, some landing, were many ancients, and 
Scribes, and city officers, and behind them a great 
number of witnesses and scoundrels. 

Caiphas Wcis a heavy-set man, with burning eyes 
and scowling countenance. He wore a long mantle, 
dark red in color, decorated with golden flowers and 
fringe, and clasped together at the breath and shoul- 
ders, in fad:, all down his person in front, with many 
160 



Jesus before Caiphas. 

different kinds of shining plates of metal. On his 
head was a mitre. It looked like a bishop's mitre, 
only it was small, and the two proje<5tions were curved 1 
inwards, and between them were openings out of | 
which some kind of material hung down on both 
sides, Caiphas and his comrades had been assembled | 
now for quite a long time. Many of them had never 
left the place after Judas had gone forth with his \ 
band. The impatience of Caiphas at length grew j 
into raging anger. He sprang from his high seat, j 
and, though robed in full pontifical attire, hurried ] 
out into the court-yard, demanding in quarrelsome J 
tones whether Jesus would not arrive soon. But the ; 
procession wcis even now approaching, and he re- 
turned to his chair. j 

i 

! 
1 

Jesus before Caiphas. 1 

Assailed by continued cries of rage and mockery, \ 
pushed this way, pulled that way, pelted with dung, j 
Jesus was led into the entrance-hall. The unchecked ] 
fury of the rabble remained without, and round Our ! 
Lord within rose the dull growls of long pentup rage 
from the assembly. From the entrance the proces- 
sion turned to the right ^ 

Jesus looked at Peter and John as He passed, 

but did not move His head le^ He should betray ■ 

them. Scarcely did Jesus appear through the row ' 

of columns before the platform, when Caiphas j 

shouted : "Art come at lait, blasphemer, thou who j 

de^oye^ the illness of this holy night." — The tube j 

^ 161 \ 
* II 



i 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



was now loosened from the mock-scepter, the accusing 
slip tciken out, and its contents read before the court. 
Hereupon Caiphas poured forth a stream of abusive 
names and scolding chcirges against Jesus, while 
the hangmen and the near-by soldiers twined and 
pulled Him to and fro. In their hands they had little 
iron rods, ending in prickly, pear-shaped bulbs, and 
these they used to push Him back and forth, crying 
out at the same time : "Answer ! Open Thy mouth ! 
Art not able to speak ?" 

During all this Caiphas, more violent even than 
Annas, was hurling a countless number of questions 
at Jesus, who gazed in silent endurance on the floor 
before Him without once looking at Caiphas. The 
hangmen were determined to make Him speak. They 
^ruck Him in the neck and in the sides, gave Him 
blows on the hemd, and pricked Him with bodkins. 
Yea, one abominable wretch pressed with His thumb 
Our Lord's under-lip again^ His teeth, saying: 
"There, bite if you will!" 

And now the witnesses were admitted to te^ify. 
Some of these were bribed vagabonds, who shouted 
forth wild cries of rage, others were the moil bitter of 
His Pharisee and Sadducee enemies, assembled in 
Jerusalem for the Pasch. All the old accusations, 
accusations He had answered a hundred times, were 
again thrown at Him : "He drives out devils by the 
aid of devils, profanes the Sabbath, breaks prescribed 
fa^s; his disciples do not wash their hands, he seduces 
the people to rebellion; he calls the Pharisees adul- 
terers and the brood of vipers; he prophesies the 
de^udtion of Jerusalem; he keeps company with 

162 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



heathens, publicans, sinners, and bad women. He is 
followed around by great multitudes, lets himself be 
called a king, a prophet, yea, even the Son of God 
Himself, and is always talking of his kingdom. He 
disputes the right of divorce. He has pronounced 
Voe' over Jerusalem. He calls himself bread of life. 
He teaches unheard of dodlrines: Whosoever eats 
not his flesh, and drinks not his blood cannot be 
saved." 

Thus all His words, and dodtrines, and parables 
were distorted and perverted, and amid abuse and 
ill-treatment, were turned into in^ruments of accusa- 
tion. But the witnesses contradidled one another and 
entangled one another in lies. "He proclaims him- 
self king," said one. "No," said another, "he merely 
lets others call him so, and when they wished to make 
him king, he fled." "But," insi^ed some one, "he 
says he is the Son of God." "No," rejoined another, 
not that way. He calls himself Son only because he 
does the will of the Father." Still others said He had 
healed them, but they had fallen sick again. All His 
cures mu^ be due to witchcraft. 

In fadl many accusations and te^imonies con- 
demned Jesus as magicism. The cure of the man at 
the pool of Bethsaida likewise came in for its shcire 
of lies and contradictions. The Pharisees of Sephoris, 
with whom He had once disputed about divorce, ac- 
cused Him of false dodlrines. That young man of 
Nazareth, too, whom He had refused a place among 
His disciples, was base-minded enough to appear 
here and testify again^ Him. And among many 
other charges were urged the absolution He gave to 

163 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



the woman taken in sin, and the ringing rebuke He 
had admini^ered to the Pharisees in the Temple. 

Still they could bring again^ Him no charge that 
was legally valid. The bands of witnessess that came 
and went rather abused Him to His face than bore 
te^imony. They were con^antly and violently quar- 
reling with one another, while through their uproar 
came cin unbroken ^eam of abuse from Caiphas and 
some of his counselors: "What a grand king thou 
art ! Show forth thy power ! Call out the legions of 
angels thou didst speak of in the Garden of Olives ! 
Where hast thou concealed the money of the foolish 
men and women thou hast robbed ? Thou hast sold 
entire estates, what has become of all thou didst get 
for them? Answer! Speak up! Oh, to be sure, 
thou art dumb now when thou should^ speak, but 
when thou should^ have been silent, before thy rabble 
of vagabonds and low women, there thou did^ have 
words in plenty." 

Ju^ as con^ant as this ^ream of abuse from the 
judges W21S the ^ream of ill-treatment from the court 
policemen. With ^riking and jerking they were 
determined to force Him to answer. Only a special 
Divine assi^ance kept Him ^ill alive to carry the sins 
of the world. Some vile-minded witnesses affirmed 
that Our Lord was an illegitimate child. But again 
others contradidled, saying: "That is a lie. His 
mother was a devout maiden in the Temple, and we 
were present when she was espoused to a pious. 
God-fearing man." Both sides disputed the point 
angrily. Further, Jesus and His disciples were up- 
braided for not sacrificing in the Temple. And in 
164 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



fadl, I never saw either Jesus or the Apoilles bring to 
the Temple any holocau^ except the Ea^er lambs. 
But Joseph and Anna had often offered sacrifice for 
Jesus. Still the accusation was worthless, as the 
Elssenians, too, never offered holocau^ and yet were 
not treated as blameworthy. — The practice of sorcery 
was often urged by the witnesses, and Caiphas him- 
self repeatedly £iffirmed that the disagreement and 
confusion among the witnesses was due to black arts 
on the part of Jesus. 

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea 
Defend Jesus. 

Some witnesses now said that He had eaten the 
Pasch at a time that was unlawful, namely, ye^erday 
evening, and that, moreover. He had been guilty of 
some irregularity in this matter already the year 
before. This point, too, excited much angry and 
abusive discussion. The witnesses confused and 
entangled one another so hopelessly, that Caiphsis 
and his entire court were overwhelmed with shame 
and rage at their inability to fallen upon Jesus 
a charge that would in any way hold together. 
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were likewise 
called upon as witnesses, because the Supper Room 
where Jesus had eaten the Pasch belonged to the 
latter. They ^ood up before Caiphcis and affirmed, 
proving what they said from written documents, that 
an ancient cu^om allowed the Galileans to eat the 
Pasch one day earlier than other Jews. That the 
Paschal lamb had been rightly prepared was clear 

165 



The Passion of Jesus ChriBt. 



from the fadt that officials from the Temple had been 
present. 

The false witnesses were now at loss what to do. 
They were particularly enraged when Nicodemus had 
the rolls of script brought to him and from them 
proved the privilege of the Galileans. I have forgotten 
many reasons for this privilege, but one I do remem- 
ber. Otherwise, the multitudes of pilgrims being so 
great, it would not be possible to conclude the Temple 
services within the time prescribed by the law, and 
the roads returning home would be too crowded. 

'Tis true the Galileans did not always avail them- 
selves of this privilege, but its exigence was clearly 
e^ablished by the documents. Hence the wrath of 
the Pharisees. And they grew ^ill more furious 
again^ Nicodemus when he concluded his words by 
declaring that all the circum^ances of this trial — the 
cock-sure prejudice, the tempe^uous ha^e, the holy 
night, the mutually de^rudlive contradictions of the 
witnesses — mu^ in the eyes of the assembled multi- 
tude brand with mark of shame the entire Sanhedrim. 

The members of the court looked daggers at 
Nicodemus, and merely plied their vile task with 
increased ha^e and shamelessness. After many more 
false, perverted, revolting depositions, there Ccune 
forward two witnesses who te^ified that Jesus had 
said : "I will de^roy this Temple made with hands, and 
in three days raise up another not made with hands." 
But even these two disagreed. Jesus wished to build 
a new Temple, said one. He had eaten a new Pasch 
in another building, because He wished to de^roy 
the old Temple. But that other building, objedled 
166 



Jesus before Caiphas, 



the second, was made with hands, hence was not the 
Temple meant by Jesus. 

Caiphas was getting beside himself with rage and 
disappointment. He saw that the contradictions 
between his witnesses and the incomprehensible 
calmness of his tortured Captive were affedting many 
of those present very Wrongly. Sometimes the wit- 
nesses were even laughed to scorn. The wonderful 
silence of Jesus frightened some consciences. Some 
soldiers, about ten in number, felt so moved by it 
that they left the hall under pretext of not being well. 
On their way out, while passing near Peter and John, 
they said : "The silence of this Galilean under such 
foul treatment is hesirt-rending. We feel like the 
earth was about to swallow us up. Tell us what we 
are to do." But the two Apo^les, not tru^ing them, 
perhaps, and fesiring to be betrayed by them, or to 
be recognized as disciples by those around, looked 
at them sorrowfully and gave merely a roundabout 
answer : "Only follow the call of truth, all else will 
come of itself." Hereupon these men passed on 
through the court-yards of Caiphas, and hurried out 
into the city. They met other friends of Jesus, who 
diredted them across Mount Sion to the caverns south 
of Jerusalem. Here they found several Apo^les in 
hiding. The latter were frightened at fir^, then 
likened to the news they brought about Jesus. Learn- 
ing that they were themselves in danger, the Apo^les 
again dispersed. 

Caiphas, then, was beside himself with rage at 
the contradictions between the la^ two witnesses. 
He rose from his seat, descended a few ^eps to where 

167 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



Jesus was, and said : "Answereil thou nothing to this 
te^imony ? As Jesus did not even look at him he 
grew furious. The hangmen seized Our Lord's hair, 
jerked back His head, and gave Him blows under the 
chin. Yet His eyes remained ca^ down. Caiphas 
raised his hands with violent ge^ure and said in furi- 
ous tones : "I adjure thee by the living God, tell us 
if thou be the Chri^, the Messias, the Son of the Mo^ 
High God?" 

The Solemn Proclamation of Jesus. 

The loud tumult suddenly ceased and there was 
a great calm. With new God-given ^rength, with a 
voice of unspeakable maje^y and overwhelming 
power, with the voice of the Eternal Word, Jesus 
spoke these words; "I am, thou ha^ said it. And I 
say unto you ! Soon you shall see the Son of Man 
sitting at the right hand of Maje^ and coming in the 
clouds of Heaven." 

During these words Jesus seemed to be glowing 
with light. Above Him I saw Heaven opened, reveal- 
ing an unspeakable, all-embracing vision of God the 
Father Almighty. I saw therein the angels and the 
prayer of the ju^, as if crying aloud to have mercy 
on Jesus. But out of the Father and Jesus simultane- 
ously I seemed to hear the Divine Nature make 
answer: "Could I suffer, I would. So in mercy I 
have assumed human nature in the Son, that the Son 
of Man may suffer. For I am ju^, and lo ! He bear- 
eth the sins of the world." 

Under Caiphas, on the contrary I saw all hell 
open, — an immense dark circle of fire peopled with 
168 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



horrible shapes. I saw him iland over it, supported 
above it only by a thin gauze-like veil. HelFs fury 
rose up and flowed through him, and the whole house 
seemed to be one rolling, deep-heaving mass of Hell. 
When Our Lord proclciimed so solemnly that He was 
Chri^, the Son of God, Hell seemed to shrink back 
before Him and then to roll all its fury again^ Him 
suddenly into this house. All this was shown to me 
in forms and pictures, and I thus grasped it more 
quickly, more truly and di^indlly, than I could through 
words only. People around us daily are forms and 
shapes not words and phrases. Thus I saw Hell's 
fear and fury in the form of countless horrible spedtres 
running as it were up through the earth. Among 
them I remember to have seen whole crowds of smcdl, 
dark, dog-like forms, with short paws but long claws, 
landing upright and dancing along on their hind legs. 
1 knew then, but am not able ju^ now to recall, what 
particular sort of mzilice they represented. 

These fearful spe<5tres I saw take possession of 
necurly all those present Generally they penetrated 
into the persons, oft times they merely alighted on 
the head or shoulders. The whole assembly Weis 
peopled with them and the wicked grew ever more 
furious. At the same moment I saw abominable 
shapes come forth out of graves on the other side of 
Mount Sion. I think they were evil spirits. In the 
vicinity of the Temple, too, I saw numerous appeeir- 
ances spring up from the esirth, among them many in 
forms of captives, dragging with them their chains. 
As regards all these latter apparitions, I do not know 
whether they were really evil spirits or only souls of 

169 



The Passion of Jesus Chriil. 



men which have been confined in earthly prisons, and 
were now perhaps on the way to Limbo, opened to 
them by the death-sentence of Our Lord. 

It is impossible to express all these visions per- 
fectly. Besides we mu^ avoid giving scandal to the 
ignorant. But one surely feels these fearful sights 
when the eyes are fixed upon them and the hairs of the 
head ^and on end. It was a gha^ly moment. I think 
John mu^ have seen something of it, from what I 
heard him say later. But all, good and bad, felt it in 
their own way. All who were not lo^ altogether shud- 
dered at the gha^liness of these moments, those who 
were wicked flared up in ^ill wilder flames of fury. 

"He is Worthy of Death!" 

On hearing, then, the solemn proclamation of 
Jesus, Caiphas, as if inspired by Hell, seized the hem 
of His rich and splendid mantle, cut it open with a 
knife and tore it asunder with a hissing noise, crying 
out as he did so : "He has blasphemed, what further 
need have we of te^imony? You yourselves have 
now heard the blasphemy, what seemeth to you now ?" 
Hereupon all those sT:ill present rose up and shouted 
in fearful tones: "He is worthy of death! He is 
worthy of death !" 

The black fury ot Hell was never so terrible as at 
this moment. The enemies of Jesus, the infamous 
judges, and their contemptible satellites and servants, 
raved as if they had swallowed down and grown drunk 
on Satan himself. Darkness seemed to bellow forth 
its triumph over light. A shuddering dread came 
170 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



upon all in whom there ^ill glimmered even a spark 
of good. Many of them covered their faces and 
slipped away. Of the witnesses, too, those of better 
condition, finding their presence no longer neces- 
sary, now went forth from the court-house, weighed 
down with the load of an evil conscience. Those of 
lower condition gathered round the fire in the en- 
trance-hall, where money was being dealt out, and 
where they began to eat and drink gluttonously. 

In court the high prie^ said to the hangmen : "I 
deliver this king over to you, give the blasphemer due 
honor.'* Hereupon he and his counselors retired be- 
hind the platform to a round chsunber which could 
not be seen into from the hall. 

John, plunged in deep sorrow, thought of the poor 
Mother of Jesus. He feared the terrible news would 
be brought to her by some enemy and thus become 
^iil more terrible. So he gazed once more at the 
Holieil of the Holy, saying interiorly : "Ma^er, Thou 
knowe^ full well why I leave Thee," and then, as if 
sent by Jesus Himself, hurried from the court-house to 
find Our Blessed Lady. Peter, broken and weary with 
pain and anguish, began to feel more keenly the 
pinching coolness of approaching morning. He con- 
cealed his despairing sadness as be^ he could, and 
hesitatingly drew near the fire-pit in the entrance-hall, 
round which crowds of promiscuous vagabonds were 
wzirming themselves. He did not realize what he was 
doing, but he felt he could not leave his Ma^er. 



171 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



Jesus is Mocked. 

When Caiphas and his counselors left the hall of 
Justice, the wicked wretches that remained rushed like 
furious swarms of wasps upon Our Lord. Jesus had 
so far been held f a^ by two of the four hangmen who 
had led Him hither. The other two had left the court 
to get companions to take their places. While the 
trial was being heard, the hangmen and other scoun- 
drels had torn out Our Lord's hair and beard by the 
handful. Some of these locks were secretly gathered 
up by good men, who slipped away with them, though 
later they somehow lo^ them again. Spitten upon, 
too. Our Lord had been during the trial, and slapped, 
and pounded with fi^s, and pricked with needles, and 
prodded with sharp-pointed cudgels. 

And now their knavish tricks took on a mo^ 
senseless form. Out of ^raw and bark they plaited 
several crowns of various grades of derision, and set 
them, one after another, on Our Lord's head, knock- 
ing each of them off again amid new phrases of 
wicked mockery : "Behold the Son of David wearing 
the crown of His Father." Or : "Behold, here is more 
than Solomon." Or : "Behold the king who is making 
a wedding-fea^ for His Son." Thus did these wretches 
deride in His person the eternal Truth, Truth that for 
their salvation He had clothed in parable and picture. 
Nor were their fiils and clubs idle in the meantime. 
They tossed Him about, and bespat Him in a sickening 
manner. Finally they plaited a crown of heavy wheat 
^raw that grows in that country, put on Our Lord's 
head a kind of tall mitre, almo^ like the mitre of one 
172 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



of our bishops, and fixed the crown of ^raw on top 
of this mitre. Before doing so they took off His 
seamless garment, and Jesus ^ood there clothed only 
with a loin-cloth, and a scapulsur, that covered neck 
and brea^. But this scapular, too, they soon tore off, 
and He did not get it back again. 

Then they threw over Him a worn-out, ragged 
old mzmtle, so short in front that it did not even cover 
His knees, and put round His neck a long iron chain 
which fell like a ^ole down over His breei^ to His 
knees. The chain ended in two large, heavy prong- 
iludded rings which struck Him paunful wounds when 
He walked or fell down. Once again they put a reed 
between His hands, bound His hands before His 
brea^, and bestrewed His wounded face with the 
revolting spittle of their unclean mouths. His torn 
and dishevelled hair and beard, and the mock-mantle 
that covered His brea^, were ^ewn and bespattered 
with all the sickening colors of filth. They tied a 
hideous rag over His eyes, gave Him blows with fi^ 
and club, and shouted : "Now, great prophet, prophe- 
sy, who has ^ruck Thee ?" But Jesus did not speak, 
prayed inwcurdly for them, and moaned with pain 
under their attacks. 

Thus, bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, He was 
dragged by the chain round His neck into the inner 
chamber. Kicks and blows were employed to em- 
phasize their words of derision : "Fetch him along, 
this king of ilraw ! The Sanhedrim mu^ see what we 
have done to venerate him." On getting into the 
chamber they found many members of the court, 
among them Caiphas, sitting on another semicircular 

173 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



platform. And now began a new scene of mockery, 
carried on with the vile^ kind of witticisms and 
sacrilegious profanation of sacred cu^oms and cere- 
monies. Out in the hall, when defiling Him with 
slime and spittle, they had cried out : "There ! Receive 
thy royal undlion, thy prophetical uncftion." Here 
they travestied His baptism and anointing by Mary : 
"What ! Unclean, thou do^ ^ill dare to appear before 
the court ! Others thou art ever offering to cleanse, 
and art not clean thyself ! Good, now we will cleanse 
thee." 

Hereupon they brought forw^ard a basin full of 
some kind of filthy liquid, in v/hich lay a big rag, old, 
worn-out, and hideous. While continuing the ilorm 
of blows, curses and mockeries the derisive salutes 
and genufledlions, while going on to Wretch out their 
tongues again^ Him or immode^ly turn their backs 
to Him, they seized the big slimy rag and brought it 
down over His face and shoulders, pretending to 
cleanse Him, but in reality defiling Him ^ill more 
abominably than before. Finally they took the basin 
and poured its sickening contents down over His 
face, saying : "There is thy precious ointment. There 
is thy three hundred pence worth of spikenard. 
There is thy baptism at the Pool of Bethsaida." 

And now they began to jerk and drag Jesus 
round in a circle in front of the mocking, cursing 
Sanhedrim, and I saw the whole room crowded with 
those furious devil-shapes — *twcis a black, mad, shud- 
dering sight. But I saw the tortured Savior often 
gleam and glow with a halo of light, from the mo- 
ment on when He said He was God's Son. Many in 
174 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



the chamber seemed to feel this more or less clearly. 
At any rate an emotion of dread crept over them on 
seeing how even the extreme of insult and derision 
could not weaken His overpowering majesty. The 
deeper-heaving fury of His sworn enemies, showed 
that even they, blind though they were, could not 
escape the rays of that penetrating brightness. But 
to me that glory of His appeared so overwhelming, 
that I had to think they v/ere concealing His face ju^ 
because the high prie^, after hearing the word: 
"Thou ha^ said it, I am," was no longer able to look 
upon Our Savior's face. 

Peter's Denial. 
After Jesus had pronounced the solemn words : 
"I am, thou ha^ said it;" after the high prie^ had 
rent asunder his pontifical robes, and the cry : "He is 
worthy of death," had mingled with the deriding fury 
of the multitude; when Heaven above bent down to 
insi^ on ju^ice; when Hell beneath bur^ through its 
bars to rage again^ Him; when the very graves gave 
forth their captive dead; when the court-room seemed 
to be one great mass of shuddering horror; Peter and 
John, who had been forced to ^and there so long, 
unable to help, not daring to complain, their eyes 
fixed Readily on their fearfully tortured Savior, were 
now unable longer to endure the sight. John took 
advantage of the departing crowd of sight-seers and 
witnesses to hurry to Mary, who along with the holy 
women was now in Martha's dwelling-place, the large 
house that belonged to Lazarus not far from the 
comer-gate. 

175 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



But Peter could not tear himself away ; He loved 
Jesus too much for that. Yet he could hardly con- 
trol himself longer. He had to weep bitterly, though 
he did so as secretly as possible. But he did not dare 
longer to itand and watch Jesus; his zeal would have 
broken out and betrayed him. And he could not 
turn away without drawing notice. So he went to- 
wards the fire, which was in a corner of the hall, and 
round which ^ood all kinds of people, particularly 
soldiers, some going forward to join in deriding Our 
Lord and some returning to the fire, all indulging 
meanwhile in vile and malicious obsen^ations. Peter 
kept ^ill. But his mere lack of intere^ and especially 
his deep expression of sadness could not but bring 
him in suspicion. 

The First Two Denials. 

The portress, too, now came near the fire, and 
began, as bold, forward women will, to contribute 
her share to the heartless gossip going on about Jesus 
on all hands. Looking diredtly at Peter, she said: 
"Thou too art a disciple of this Galilean." The words 
^ruck Peter with fear and confusion. Afraid of being 
maltreated by the rough, brutal crowd, he retorted : 
"Woman, I know Him not. I know not nor under- 
stand what thou saye^." Then he rose up and left 
the entrance-hall to escape from them. It was the 
time when the cock was wont to crow out there out- 
side the town. I do not recall hearing him, but I felt 
he was at that moment crowing. 

As he passed out, another maid caught sight of 
him and said to the by^anders : "This man too was 
176 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



with Jesus of Nazareth." And the by^cinders went 
on to ask : "Wa^ not thou too one of His disciples?" 
Peter, in great confusion and bewilderment, prote^ed 
^ongly : "In all truth, I was not I know not this 
man." Then he hurried on through the fir^ court- 
yard into the second in order to warn back acquaint- 
ances whom he saw looking in over its walls. He was 
weeping, and so full of fear and concern for Jesus that 
he sccU"cely thought of his denial at all. 

Here in the outer court was a great number of 
people, including friends of Jesus, who were not 
allowed into the inner court out of which Peter had 
ju^ come. They were climbing the wall in hopes of 
catching news. Among them was quite a large bcuid 
of disciples whom anxiety had driven hither from 
their caverns on Mount Hinnom. They at once 
crowded round Peter and plied him with tearful 
que^ons. But he was so unnerved by sadness for 
His Mci^er and fecur for himself, that he answered 
them shortly, advising them to leave the spot as there 
was danger for them also. With that he turned 
away, and roved sadly around, while they again 
hurried out of the city. They were about sixteen in 
number, and belonged to His early disciples. Among 
them were: Bartholomew, Nathanael, Satuminus, 
Judas Barsabeus, Simeon, afterwards bishop of Jeru- 
salem, Zacheus, and finally Manahem, the youth 
with the prophetical spirit, who had been born blind 
and restored to sight by Jesus. 



177 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



The Third Denial. 

Peter could not re^. His love for Jesus drove 
him again into the inner court-yard which surrounds 
the house. They let him in at the gate, remembering 
that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had ob- 
tained entrance for him in the fir^ in^ance. But 
Peter did not at once go back into the entrance-hall. 
He turned to the right along the house till he reached 
an opening into the round chamber behind the 
court-room, where the rabble was engaged in deriding 
Jesus and dragging Him around. Timidly Peter 
drew nigh. He felt indeed that he was watched and 
suspedled, but his fears for Jesus made him force his 
w^ay through the door-way, which was occupied by a 
curious riff-raff of speculators engaged in fearing their 
eyes on the mockeries within. Ju^ then Jesus with 
the mock-crown was being dragged ignominiously 
round in a circle. He ca^ a very earned look of 
warning at Peter, and Peter felt his heart break with 
grief. 

But as he was ^ill ^ruggling with fear, and 
heard some of the by^anders saying : "What kind of 
a fellow is this here," he went out again into the 
court-ycU*d. But sadness and anxiety had thrown him 
into a ^ate of confusion, and his indecision was visible 
in his hesitating ^eps. Feeling himself ^ill an objed: 
of curiosity, he returned round the house into the 
entrance-hall, and went to the fire. He had sat there 
quite a while, when some of those who had seen him 
and observed his confusion out in the court-yard, like- 
wise came into the hall and up to the fire where he 

178 



Jesus before Caipkas, 



sat. In order to catch him, they begzin again to beindy 
words about Jesus and his doings. Then one of them 
added: "Of a truth, thou art one of His followers. 
Thou art a Galilean, thy speech betrays thee." Peter 
gave an evasive answer and turned away. But 
ju^ then a brother of Malchus Pepped in front of him 
and said : "What ! Didn't I see thee in the garden 
on Mount Olivet ? Did^ thou not wound my broth- 
er's ear?" 

In this predicament Peter seemed to lose his 
senses. To get aw^ay from them, he began in his 
own violent way to curse and to swear that he knew 
not this man. Then he ran out of the hall into the 
court-yard and around the house. At that moment, 
the cock was again crowing. Jesus was ju§l being 
led out of the round chamber and across the court 
into the dungeon beneath. He turned and looked at 
Peter — so sadly yet so lovingly ! And the word He 
had spoken : "Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt 
deny Me thrice," now awoke with awful force in 
Peter's heart. Worn with grief and £inguish, he had 
forgotten the self-confident promise he had made on 
Mount Olivet rather to die with his Ma^er than deny 
Him. He had forgotten, too. Our Lord's solemn 
warning. But now under the eyes of Jesus the feeling 
of guilt rolled in upon him with crushing force. He 
had denied his Ma^er — the Ma^er who had weuned 
him so lovingly, his cruelly treated, innocent yet 
condemned, so silent suffering Ma^er. He bur^ into 
bitter sobs, hid his face in his cloak, and like one 
beside himself with sorrow rushed out into the exterior 
court-yard. He no longer feared to be spoken to. He 

179 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



would now have told the whole world who he was 
and what he had done. 

Who is bold enough to say that in those circum- 
^ances he would have done better than Peter? In 
such a crisis of danger, afflidtion, anguish and bewil- 
derment, exhau^ed by the druggie between love and 
fear, con^antly watched and pursued like a bea^ of 
the field, half-di^radted with the accumulated misfor- 
tunes of this unhappy night, with a temperament at 
once so childlike and so energetic — who dares say 
he would have been Wronger? Our Lord left him 
entirely to his own power, and thus he became weak 
and helpless — as all do who forget the words ; "Watch 
and pray, lest you enter into temptation." 

Mary at the Court-house of Caiphas. 

Our Lady was in constant inward union with 
Jesus and knew and felt all that was happening to 
Him. In this vision of spirit she suffered all that He 
suffered, and like Him never ceased praying for His 
persecutors. But at the same time the Mother's 
heart was ever crying out to God to prevent these 
fearful sins, to turn these tortures aside from her most 
holy Son. And her longing to be near that martyred 
Son was growing irresistible. So when John, his ears 
still ringing with the terrible cry: "He is worthy of 
death," reached the house of Lazarus near the corner- 
gate, and mingled his tears with hers while telling her 
outwardly the fearful sufferings of Jesus which never 
ceased to lacerate her inwardly, she requeued him, 
and her request was reiterated by Magdalen and some 
180 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



other holy women, to lead her to the spot where 
Jesus was suffering. 

John's sole reason for going away from His 
Divine Ma^er was to console His Mother, and he was 
glad to adl now as guide for her and the holy women 
who supported her. Magdalen was among them, but 
unready in gait and daggering, and wringing her 
hands with anguish. On they went through Greets 
bright with moonlight and peopled with all kinds of 
home-goers. The holy women wore veils, but their 
evident anxiety and their sobs drew upon them the 
attention of many a passing band of Our Lord's ene- 
mies, and many a maledidlion again^ Him was loud 
enough to reach their ears and deepen their sorrow. 
Our Lady did not for a moment lose the inner vision 
of Our Lord's martyrdom. She kept it all in her 
heart, as she was wont to do, and suffered like He 
did, in silence. But often her ^rength gave way and 
she sank into the arms of her companions. Once 
she lay thus in their arms at a spot where the ^eet 
wanders under a gate or arch inside the city, when 
some well disposed persons entered from the other 
side on their return from the court. They, too, were 
Izmienting. As they came near they recognized the 
Mother of Jesus, and topped for some moments to 
greet her and express their sjnupathy : "Hail, Dolorous 
Mother of the Mo^ Holy One of Israel." Mary came 
to herself, and thanked them in her heart, whereupon 
the holy company hurried forwards on its sad way. 

The ^reet by which they approached the court 
of Caiphas led pail the house at the other end from 
the entrance. There was but the one wall here 

181 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



between the ^reet and the house, while at the en- 
trance-side the way in leads fir^ through two court- 
yards. While Our Lady and her company were get- 
ting near the court, fresh sorrow and bitterness fell 
upon them. On some kind of a level elevation be- 
side the road, workmen under a light tent-cover were 
busy by torch-light preparing the cross of Chri^. 
Orders had been given ju^ when Judas went out for 
the betrayal, to begin preparing the cross as soon as 
Jesus would be captured. Thus Pilate would have no 
reason to delay. They expedted to have Pilate con- 
demn Jesus quite early in the morning, and did not 
anticipate any great delay. The Romans had already 
prepared the crosses for the two thieves. Every 
hammer-^roke of the workmen fell crushingly on the 
unhappy Mother's heart, and her soul was pierced 
with their curses again^ her Son, on whose account 
they were compelled to labor at night. And ^ill she 
prayed for the awful blindness of poor wretches who 
had but oaths and curses for the in^rument of Re- 
demption they were preparing. 

After passing round the house and entering the 
court-yard, they gathered in a little recess near the 
gate between the two court-yards. Mary's soul was 
with Jesus, sharing His unspeakable pains. Still, she 
longed to see the gate open, and hoped with John's 
aid to gain entrance. She felt that only this gate 
divided her from her Son, who now at the second 
cock-crowing was being led out of the house into the 
dungeon beneath. 

Meanwhile the gate was thrown open, and at the 
head of an out-coming crowd rushed forth Peter, his 
182 



Jesus before Caiphas. 



head muffled in his meintle, his hands held out in front 
of him, his frame shaken with violent sobs. Moon- 
light and torch-light let him at once recognize John 
and Our Blessed Lady. His conscience, terrified by 
the look of the Son, seemed to meet him now in the 
form of the Mother. Poor Apo^le! How Mary's 
fir^ words rang through his wounded soul : "Simon, 
how fares it with my Son?" He could not endure her 
eyes. He turned aside, wringing his hands, and un- 
able to speak. But Mary could not see him thus. 
She came nearer, 2ind said in a voice of deep pain : 
"Simon, son of Cephas, thou answereit me not?" 

"O Mother, Speak Not to Me." 

Then from the depths of his wretchedness Peter 
cried out: "O Mother, speak not to me! Thy Son 
is enduring more than mam can endure. Speak not 
to me ! They have condemned Him to death, and I 
have shamefully denied Him three times." When 
John drew near to speak to him, Peter, beside himself 
with grief, fled away through the court-yard and out 
through the city to the cavern on Mount Olivet where 
the hands of the praying Savior had impressed them- 
selves into the rock. Twas here, too, I believe, in 
this cave that Adam did penance when he fir^ set 
foot on the accursed earth. 

Compassion with this new sorrow of her Son, 
denied by the very disciple who had been fir^ to dis- 
cover in Him the Son of the living God, overwhelmed 
Our Lady once more. She sank to the ground near 
the gate-po^ and marks of her hand or foot were in- 

183 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§L 



dented into the door-^one that supported her. This 
^one ^iil exi^. I have seen it, but I cannot now 
remember where. — But now the court-yard gates 
were left open, as the bulk of the crowd had gone 
away after Jesus had been put in the dungeon. So 
when Our Lady recovered, and asked to be brought 
nearer to her Son, John led her and the holy women 
in front of Our Lord^s prison. Oh God, yes, she knew 
all that concerned Jesus, and Jesus all that concerned 
her. Yet with the senses of the body, too, would the 
faithful Mother li^en to His moans and to the mock- 
eries of His persecutors. 

But not long could they remain here unobserved. 
Magdalen's violent grief agitated her too Wrongly. 
Our Blessed Lady's calm and holy bearing, even in 
her utmo^ desolation, made her, 'tis true, an objedl 
of wondering reverence. Yet even she could not take 
these few ^eps without hearing the bitter words: 
"Isn't that the mother of this Galilean ? Well, her son 
can't escape the cross. But I guess he will not get 
there before the Fea^ — unless he is the mo^ infa- 
mous of criminals." Our Lady turned back and was 
led by her inner inspiration round the house and in 
through the hall to the fire-pit, round which gathered 
the small rabble that remained. As she ^ood here, 
surrounded by her sorrowing band, on the spot He 
had proclaimed Himself Son of God and where the 
brood of devils had shouted : "He is worthy of death," 
her feelings of compassion again robbed her of con- 
sciousness, and like one dying she was carried away 
by John and the holy women. The rabble said 
nothing, simply ^ared in amazement — as the damned 

184 



Jesus in the Dungeon. 



might gaze at some bright spirit passing before their 
eyes in Hell. 

Again the way led them around the rear end of 
the house, pail the sad spot where the cross was pre- 
paring. The workmen could not get on better with 
the cross than the judges with the trial. One piece 
of wood after another either broke or turned out 
badly, and they had to go repeatedly for new supplies 
before they finally succeeded in con^rudling it as God 
willed. I have had many visions concerning this 
matter. Likewise it seemed to me that angels were 
hindering them from completing their labors till God 
so willed. But as my memory is no longer clear on 
this point, 1 leave it as it may be. 



Jesus in the Dungeon. 

The dungeon under the court-house of Caiphas 
was a small round vault, the remciins of which I saw 
^ill exi^. Only two hangmen were with Him here, 
at any time, each pair giving way after a short watch 
to another. Our Lord's garments had not been given 
back. His only covering was the ragged, spittle-reek- 
ing mock-mantle. And His hands had been bound 
again. 

On entering the dungeon Our Lord prayed to 
His Heavenly Father to accept all the derision and 
cruelty He had so far suffered, or weis ^ill to suffer, in 
satisfaction for the sins of His torturers and for all 
those who in like sufferings might be tempted to im- 
patience and anger. 

185 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Even here His persecutors gave Him no re^. 
They bound Him to a low pillar in the centre of the 
dungeon, but would not let Him lean again^ it. So 
He had to support Himself entirely on His feet, swollen 
though they were and lacerated by the cruel chains, 
that reached to His knees and tore His limbs when 
He walked or fell. He was so exhau^ed that He 
swayed from side to side. The hangmen did not cease 
to mock and torment Him. When tired, they were 
replaced by two others who did not fail to inflict on 
Him nev/ knaveries. 

I am unable to recount all their manife^ations of 
malice againit the Pure^ and Holie^ One. I am sick 
with it all, and as good as dead. Oh God! How 
shameful for us to be so soft-hearted and esisily dis- 
gu^ed that we can neither ourselves describe, nor 
allow others to describe the countless cruelties endured 
for us so patiently by an innocent Redeemer. We 
feel like the murderer who would have to lay his hand 
on the wound of his victim. Jesus endured all with- 
out once opening His lips to complain. But men, 
sinners, opened their lips, not to complain merely, but 
to rage madly again^ their Brother, their Redeemer, 
their God. I am one of these poor sinners, and on 
my account too was all this pain heaped upon Him. 

On the day of Judgment all will come to light. 
There we shall all see what share we had in the suf- 
ferings of the Son of God when He appeared in time 
as Son of Man; how all the sin we ^ill continue to do 
is a kind of consent and approval given to the cruel- 
ties inflicted upon Jesus by the gang of devils. Alas, 
if we had this truth Wrongly before our minds, we 
186 



Jesns in the Dungeon. 



would put far more eame^ness into those words which 
form part of mciny ad:s of contrition : "Lord, let me 
rather die than of¥end Thee again by sin." 

Standing thus in the dungeon Jesus prayed con- 
tinually for His tormentors. When finally weariness 
made them somewhat calmer, I saw Jesus leaning 
agciin^ the pillar and all-suffused with light. And 
now the day began to break, the day of His infinite 
pain and satisfad:ion, the day of our redemption. 
Timidly it peeped in through an opening in the 
dungeon wall, peeped in upon the Ea^er Lsimb, so 
holy, so lacerated, so patient under its w^eight of sin. 
And Jesus held out His fettered hands in greeting to 
the young day, and spoke in loud clear tones a 
touching thanksgiving to His Father, who had deigned 
at length to send Him this day of all days — the day 
so long desired by the patriarchs of old, the day so 
bumingly longed for by Himself since He came on 
earth as to make Him say : "I have a baptism where- 
with I £UTi to be baptized and how am I ^raitened till 
it be accomplished," the day that was to finish His 
work, to complete our salvation, to open Heaven and 
conquer Hell, to throw open to msui the fount of 
benedidtion, and to accomplish the will of His Father. 

I said the prayer v/ith Him, but cannot repeat it 
now. Comp£ission had made me feel sick. I had 
wept bitterly over His pain, especially when He 
thcuiked for the fearful burden He was bearing for 
me, and I had been saying over and over : "O Jesus, 
give me, I beg Thee, give me Thy sufferings. They 
belong to me, they are the price of my guilt." At 
that moment the dawn peeped in, and He greeted the 

187 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 

day with such a touching word of thanks, that I W2is 
overswept by a wave of love and compassion, and 
said His prayer after Him, word for word, like a child. 
It is not possible to describe the sadness, and love, 
and holiness, and solemnity of that scene : The hor- 
rible crash and clatter of the night had died away, 
and there in the itill silence of the narrow dungeon 
^ood the unconquered Sufferer, bound to the pillar 
indeed, yet shining with light, and welcoming with 
manacled hands and grateful voice the fir^ bright 
beam of that great Easter morning. Alas, that beam 
was the executioner coming into the dungeon to be 
reconciled to his victim, and the Victim was thanking 
him so affectionately ! The weary hangmen had been 
dozing, but were now aroused and amazed. Jesus 
may have been in the dungeon something over 
an hour. 

Judas at the Court-house. 

While Jesus was in the dungeon, Judas drew 
near the court-house of Caiphas. Till now the despair- 
ing, devil-driven Apoitle had been running hither and 
thither among the bones and carcasses and heaps of 
dung scattered over the Valley of Hinnom on the ^eep 
southern side of Jesusalem. With the silver bundle 
of treason ^ill clinging to his belt, he went prowling 
about like some wild bea^. It had now grown quiet 
and he managed to ask without being recognized 
what would become of the Galilean. "Already con- 
demned to death and will be crucified," was the 
answer. Others he heard conversing on the tearful- 
ness of His torments and the wonderfulness of His 
188 



The Moming Trial 



patience. At daybreak He would have once more to 
appear before the Sanhedrim in order to hear His 
formal cmd solemn condemnation. 

Cautiously, little by little, now here now there, 
Judas had gathered his information. Day now began 
to break, and greater ^ir and tui^le was apparent in 
and eu-ound the house. To escape observation Judcis 
slunk away behind the house. Despair was brooding 
in his soul, and he fled from men like Cain. But what 
a sight now met his eyes ! There before him is the 
spot where the workmen had been preparing the cross. 
Its various pieces lay arranged in order, and between 
them, rolled in their blankets, slept the workmen. 
There over Mount Olivet the heavens were glimmer- 
ing white, seeming to shrink back from beholding the 
in^rument of our Redemption. Judas gave one 
glance of horror and fled from the spot. He had seen 
the gallows unto which he had sold his Ma^er ! But 
he hid himself somewhere in the neighborhood to 
await the outcome of the moming session. 



The Morning Trial. 

When day broke and it grew light, the Sanhe- 
drim — Caiphas, Annas, the Ancients and Scribes — 
reassembled in the large hall to hold a legal and 
valid session. The night session was not legal and 
valid, it was meant simply to take the depositions of 
the witnesses, and thus save time in the morning. 
Mo^ of the members had spent the remainder of the 
night in the house of Caiphcis. Around and above 

189 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



the hall of ju^ice were chambers with sleeping 
couches on which the judges were reposing. Others 
came in at day-break, among them Nicodemus and 
Joseph of Arimathea. The assembly was large, and 
its proceedings were ha^y. Counsel was held how 
be^ to introduce the death-sentence again^ Jesus. 
Proteus were raised by Nicodemus, Joseph of Arima- 
thea, and a few others. They demanded that the 
affair be po^poned till after the Fe^ival in order to 
avoid tumult among the people. Besides, there 
were as yet no juil grounds for condemnation, since 
the witnesses had all contradidled one another. 

Embittered by this opposition, the majority, led 
by the high prices, plainly hinted that these defenders 
of Jesus had good resisons for being displeased at 
His condemnation. They might well feel that such 
condemnation would Cci^ its shadows on themselves, 
as sympathizers with the teaching of the Galilean. 
So it Wcis detemined that the well disposed towards 
Jesus should have no vote in the case. Hereupon 
the latter, prote^ing againit any responsibility for the 
proceedings of the Sanhedrim, left the hall of juilice 
and betook themselves to the Temple. 

Caiphas now gave orders to bring before the 
Sanhedrim the lacerated and exhau^ed Redeemer, 
and to bring Him in such guise that, when sentence 
had fallen. He could without delay be led to Pilate. 
With a great deal of din and clamor the soldiers 
rushed into the dungeon, fell crusing upon Jesus, un- 
bound His hands, tore the rag mantle from His shoul- 
ders, ^ood ^riking Him while He put on once more 
His long woven garment, which was ^ill covered with 
190 



The Morning TriaL 



filth, tied the cords round His wai^ again, and led 
Him thus up out of the dungeon. All their move- 
ments were marked by ^ormy ha^e and horrible 
barbarities. Like some poor animals of sacrifice He 
was driven with blows and curses round the house 
and in through the ranks of soldiers already assembled, 
into the hall of justice till He again ^ood before the 
Sanhedrim. At sight of the exhau^ed, lacerated 
figure, covered only with His bedrenched and bedrag- 
gled undergarment, they experienced a nausea which 
inflamed them ^ill more with rage. Not one of these 
hard Jewish hearts birred with feelings of compassion. 

In scornful, angry tones Caiphas addressed the 
woe-begone figure before him: "If thou be the 
Anointed of the Lord, the Messias, tell us." Jesus 
raised His head, and in a tone of holy patience and 
solemn earne^ness pronounced these words: "If I 
shall tell you, you will not believe me; and if I shall 
ask you, you will not answer Me nor let me go; but 
today henceforth the Son of Man shall sit at the right 
hand of the power of God." Hereupon they looked 
at one another to express their contempt and answered 
with derisive shouts : "Really ! Thou ! Thou art the 
Son of God?" and with the voice of eterneJ Truth 
Jesus replied : "Amen, you have said it, I am !" At 
this word all began to say : "What further need have 
we of te^imony? We have heard it now out of his 
own mouth." 

Then all rose up and began to upbraid and revile 
the miserable up^art, the low-born miscreant, who 
dared say he was their Messias and would once sit 
at the right hand of God ! The hangmen were ordered 

191 



The Passion of Jesus Chriit. 



to bind Him again, to hang round His neck the 
chain worn by condemned criminals, and so led Him 
to Pilate. To the latter they had already sent a 
messenger with the reque^ to be ready to pass judg- 
ment on a criminal early in the morning, since the 
approaching Fe^val forced them to ha^en matters. 
They exchanged complaints and murmurs with one 
another at being compelled to have recourse to the 
Roman governor. They had themselves no power 
to pass sentence of death, and their jurisdidtion was 
re^ridled to matters concerning their religion or the 
Temple. And since they were bent on having Jesus 
condemned as a plotter again^ Caesar, final sentence 
upon Him was reserved to the Roman governor. 

Soldiers were already landing in line through 
the entrance-hall and out in front of the house, where 
likewise were gathered many of the enemies of Jesus 
and a crowd of idle vagabonds. The high prie^s 
and some members of the court marched on ahead, 
then followed Jesus, between the hangmen and 
surrounded by the band of soldiers, while the rabble 
closed the procession. In this guise they marched 
down from Mount Sion into the lower city and on to 
the palace of Pilate. But a number of the prie^s 
present in the hall betook themselves to the Temple 
where today there was much to do. 

Despair of Judas. 
The traitor was not far away. He heard the 
tumult of the passing troop, and from many a belated 
Craggier came terrible words to his ears : "They are 
leading him to Pilate — the Sanhedrim has con- 
192 



The Morning Trial 



demned the Galilean to death — the cross is surely 
Wciiting — ^^he can't escape alive — they have mal- 
treated him fearfully — his patience makes one shud- 
der — he answers not at all — he said merely he was 
the Messias, and would sit at the right hand of God, 
that was all — therefore he mu^ die on the cross — had 
he not said that, they could not have found him 
guilty of death, but now to the cross with him. The 
scoundrel who sold him was his own disciple, and 
had shortly before eaten the Pasch with him — I'm 
glad I have nothing to do with such a deed — let the 
Galilean be what he will, he has never handed a 
friend over to death for money — mo^ assuredly, the 
scoundrel deserves hanging himself." Anguish, de- 
spair and belated sorrow were struggling in the soul 
of Judas. 

He felt urged by Satan to run. The bag of 
silver on his belt under his cloak was to him a spur 
of Hell. He grasped it firmly with his hand to keep 
it from rattling so loudly agcdn^ his side as he ran. 
He ran in great ha^e, but not after the procession, 
to throw himself at the feet of Jesus, to beg forgive- 
ness from the All-merciful, to die with his betrayed 
Ma^er. Not humbly to confess his fault before God, 
but to cleanse himself from the guilt of treason in the 
eyes of men, he ran like one insane into the Temple, 
whither after the condemnation of Jesus many mem- 
bsrs of the Council had betaken themselves to adl as 
chiefs of the bands of prieils engaged in the service. 
They now looked at one another in surprise, then 
fa^ened their gaze derisively on the disfigured form 
which despairing sorrow had driven before them. 

193 

*i3 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



Judas tore with his right hand the bunch of silver 
coins from his girdle, and Wretched his hand towards 
them, crying out in passionate anguish : "Take back 
the silver wherewith you seduced me to betray the 
Ju^ One ! Take back your money ! Release Jesus ! 
I revoke my compadl! I have sinned grievously in 
betraying innocent blood." 

But the prieils let him feel the full measure of 
their contempt. With hands drawn back and held 
high, to show they refused to be defiled with the price 
of treason, they answered : "What is it to us if thou 
ha^ sinned ? Ha^ thou shed innocent blood, well, 
'tis thy affair, see thou to it ! We know what we pur- 
chased from thee, and have found Him worthy of 
death. Keep thy money, we will have nothing to do 
with it." Their words were ha^ and spoken with 
the air of men pressed by business and desirous to 
get rid of a troublesome que^ioner. As they turned 
away Judas felt rage and despair driving him mad so 
that his very hair ^ood on end. He seized with both 
hands the band which held his money together, tore 
it asunder, sent the silver coins scattering over the 
floor of the Temple, and rushed out of the city. 

And now I saw him again in the Valley of Hinnom, 
running like one insane. At his side in fearful shape I 
saw Satan, who, in order to drive him to despair, was 
whispering into his ears all the maledictions invoked 
by the prophets upon this unhappy valley, where in 
times gone by the Jews had been wont to sacrifice 
their children to idols. "They shall go forth and gaze 
upon the corpses of those who have sinned again^ 
Me." "Their worm shall not die, their fire shall not 
194 



The Morning TriaL 



be quenched." These words seemed to be alive, to 
be pointing their fingers at him. And again in his 
ears resounded the cry : "Cain, where is Abel, thy 
brother? What ha^ thou done ? His blood cries out 
to Me. Accursed art thou, an outca^ and a wan- 
derer upon earth." 

He reached the Cedron and glanced up towards 
Mount Olivet. Again he shuddered and turned away, 
for again he heard the words: "Friend, whereunto 
art thou come ? Judas, do^ thou betray the Son of 
Man with a kiss." Oh God, how horrible and deso- 
late it grew in his soul! Darkness and confusion 
settled down on his thoughts, and Satanic tones 
sounded in his ears : "Over the Cedron here David 
fled from Absalom. Absalom hung from a tree and 
died. Of thee David spoke when he sang : They 
have returned evil for good — let him have a ^ern 
judge — let Satan ^and at his right hand — every 
judgment shall condemn him — few days shall he 
live — his office another shall take — may the Lord 
remember cJways the iniquity of his father, let not the 
sin of his mother be blotted out — without mercy he 
has persecuted the poor man, has put to death the 
afflicted man — he has loved malediction, let it come 
upon him — he has put on malediction as a garment 
and it has entered like water into his entrails, like oil 
into his bones — like a garment does malediction 
surround him, like a girdle that binds him forever." 

Thus fearfully lashed onwards by conscience, 
Judas came to a lonely swampy spot, piled with rub- 
bish and dung, between south and ea^ of Jerusalem, 
at the foot of the Mount of Scandal. No one could 

195 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 

see him there, but horn the di^ant town came fre- 
quent bur^s of noise, which Satan did not fail to 
interpret : "Now He is being led out to death ! Thou 
ha^ sold Him ! Knowe^ thou how the law reads : 
'Whoso sells a soul of his brethren, out of the children 
of Israel, and receives the price thereof, let him die 
the death !* Put an end to thy life, wretched one, put 
an end to thy life !" — Judas, in black despair, took 
his girdle and hung himself to a tree with many trunks, 
growing there from a crevice in the rock — and whil^ 
he hung his body bur^ asunder and his entrails were 
poured out on the earth. 

Jesus is Led to Pilate. 

The cruel road from Caiphas to Pilate led through 
the mo^ densely peopled sedlion of the town, though 
the entire city was swarming with countless pilgrims 
and Grangers. Some di^ance ahead of Jesus march- 
ed, clad in fe^ive robes, Caiphas and Annas and many 
other members of the Sanhedrim, behind whom rolls 
of script were carried. Then came many Scribes and 
other Jews, among them false witnesses, and the irri- 
tated Pharisees who had been especially adtive during 
the trial. Next came a little break in the train, and 
then followed Jesus, dragged along by the ropes of 
the hangmen and surrounded by a band of soldiers 
and those six officers who had been present at His 
capture. The rabble ^reziming in from all sides, and 
filling the air with jeers and shouts, formed the rear 
of the marching column, while the whole line of ad- 
vance was flanked with dense crowds of people. 
196 



Jesus is Led to Pilate. 



Jesus had ^ill nothing to wear but His woven 
undergannent, now so bedraggled and na^. Hang- 
ing round His neck and reaching to His knees was 
the long, broad-linked chain, which ^ruck His knees 
painhilly as he walked. His hands were bound as 
they had been the day before, and the ropes of the 
hangmen were fa^ened to His girdle. The fearful 
cruelties of the preceding night had completely dis- 
figured Him : A swaying image of wretchedness, with 
dishevelled hzur and beard, with face pale and swollen. 
He was hurried along amid blows and jeers and taunts. 
A great number of low vagabonds had been incited 
to make this march a mock-repetition, of His triumph- 
ant entry some days before. Royal titles were flung 
at Him derisively, ^ones, cudgels, bits of wood, and 
dirty rags were thrown before His feet, mocking 
snatches of song and acclamations recalled every 
detail of His triumph. The pulls and jerks of the 
hangmen were added to drag Him over these ob^a- 
cles, and the entire march was an exhibition of unin- 
terrupted cruelty. 

The Most Holy Mother of Jesus. 

In a receding corner of a building, not far from the 
house of Caiphas, ^ood Our Lady, with Magdalen and 
John, awaiting the approaching procession. Though 
her soul was con^antly with Jesus, con^antly bearing 
all His pains, yet her love drove her, whenever possible, 
to see Him with her eyes and to walk in His footsteps. 
Thus she could remain but a little while at the Supper 
Room, whither she had gone after her visit of lait 
night to the court-house of Caiphas. Hardly was 

197 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH, 



Jesus led from the dungeon before the morning ses- 
sion of court, when she rose, put on her mantle and 
veil, and set forwards, saying to John and Magdalen : 
"Let us follow my Son to Pilate; I wish to see Him 
with my eyes." By a roundabout way they had out- 
gripped the procession, and now ^ood waiting for it 
at this spot. The Mother knew full well how it faired 
v/ith her Son; He was ever before the eyes of her soul. 
But her inner eye never saw Him as cruelly trans- 
formed and disfigured as He was in reality. His fear- 
ful sufferings indeed, were ever under her gaze, but 
transfigured and illumined by the holiness, love and 
patience of His self-sacrificing will. 

But now the reality came before her in all its 
fearfulness. There are the proud men who rage 
again^ her Son, their hearts full of trickery and fraud 
and falsehood and maledidtion, the solemnly robed 
high prieils of the true God bent on murdering that 
same God! What a shuddering sight — the prie^s 
of God become prie^ of Satan ! Then the wild din 
and clatter and clamor of the people, and the false 
witnesses and accusers who had sworn away their 
souls I And finally Jesus, Son of God, Son of Man, 
her Son ! How horribly disfigured He is, as He passes 
before her, bound, beaten, driven, enveloped in a 
cloud of mockery and maledidtion, reeling rather 
than walking under the pulls and jerks of barbarous 
hangmen. Alas, in that raging ^orm of Hell, were it 
not for the re^ful atmosphere of prayer that wrapped 
Him round, she had not recognized His figure in that 
filth-reeking undergarment at all. "Good God, is 
that my Son? Alas, it is my Son! O Jesus, my 
198 



Jesus is Led to Pilate, 

Jesus !" On pa^ her swept the train, Our Lord turned 
upon her ju^ one so touching look, and she fell into 
unconsciousness. Brought away by John and Magda- 
len, as soon as she recovered, she had John guide 
her to the palace of Pilate. 

Friends leave us in time of need. This truth 
Jesus, too, had to experience on this march. At a 
certain spot were gathered the inhabitants of Ophel. 
On seeing Jesus led along between the hangmen, so 
bruised, and mocked, and derided, and disfigured, 
their faith too begcui to shake. Was it possible that 
their King, Prophet, Messias, the Son of God, could 
be reduced to such degradation? And then they 
winced under the jeers and taunts of the passing 
Pharisees : "Look at your King — isn't He nice and 
clean — why don't you sedute Him — why hang your 
heads now when He is going to receive His crown 
and take possession of His throne — His miracle-days 
are over with — the high prie^ has weaned Him from 
v/itchcraft, etc." Spite of the many cures and graces 
beilowed on them by Jesus, these good people began 
to waver. The fearful scene enadled before their 
eyes by the higher authorities of the land, the high 
prieils and the Semhedrim, was too much for their 
weak faith. The better disposed retired in doubt and 
hesitation, those who were bad united wherever they 
could with the howling mob. Wherever they could — 
since here and there the ^eets opening into the line 
of march were kept by guards, Rationed there by the 
Pharisees in order to prevent all di^rbance. 



199 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



Jesus Before Pilate. 

Pilate had been observing their ha^, noisy 
loud-shouting approach. When he saw Jesus at the 
foot of the ^airs that led up to the terrace, he rose 
up and addressed the Jews in a tone of biting con- 
tempt, ju^ as some haughty French marshal might 
address the delegates of a small German town : "What 
have you here so early in the morning? Couldn*t 
you treat the man a little more brutally? Rather an 
early hour for butchery." But they shouted to the 
hangmen : "On with Him into the court-house." Then 
they addressed Pilate : "Listen to our charges again^ 
this criminal; we dare not enter the court-house, we 
would be unclean." 

"Ye speak truly," came a cry following their 
loud-shouted words, "Ye speak truly, that ye dare 
not enter this court-house, for it is sandlified by inno- 
cent blood. Only He dare enter. He alone among 
the Jews is pure like the Innocents." The speaker 
was a large, powerfully built and venerable man 
landing among the people who crowded the forum 
behind the Pharisees. He spoke the words with 
passionate emotion, and then disappeared in the 
multitude. He was a wealthy man named Zadoch, 
a cousin of Obed, the husband of Seraphia, otherwise 
called Veronica. Two little boys of his had been 
among the innocent children slain at Herod's com- 
mand in this court-house yard. Since that time he 
had lived in deep retirement, he and his wife dwelling 
together, after the manner of the Essenians, as brother 
and si^er. Once on a visit to Lazarus he had seen 
200 



Jesus before Pilate. 



Jesus and heeurd Him teach. At this moment, then, 
when he saw Jesus so cruelly jerked along up^airs, 
the memory of the moment when his children were 
here murdered broke forth from his heart, and he 
cried out in te^imony of Our Lord's innocence. But 
the accusers paid little attention to the cry. They 
were too deeply bent on their purpose and enraged 
at Pilate's gruffness. 

Jesus was dragged up the many marble ^eps, 
and left landing in the background of the elevated 
terrace, down from which Pilate was deeding with the 
accusers who ^ood below. Pilate, on seeing the 
Man, of whom he had heard so many varying reports, 
now pass before him, brutally misused and horribly 
disfigured, yet with an indeilrudtible expression of 
noble dignity — on seeing this Pilate felt his contempt 
and dislike grow ^ill Wronger again^ the priests and 
counselors, who had already informed him that they 
would bring before him for condemnation a man 
w^orthy of death, named Jesus of Nazareth. No, he 
was not disposed to condemn this man without proof 
of his guilt. So in a tone of haughty contempt he 
said to the high prie^ : "What proof of guilt bring 
you again^ this man ?" "If we did not know him," 
they answered bitterly, "to be a malefadtor, we would 
not have delivered him up to thee." Then Pilate 
said: "Take him then yourselves and judge him accord- 
ing to your law." Whereupon they retorted : "Thou 
knowe^ it is not lawful for us alone to put any man 
to death." 

They were burning with rage and bitterness, and 
were for pushing the matter through with tempe^uous 

201 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



hurry and violence, so as to be ready to sacrifice the 
Paschal lamb. And they could not suspedl that they 
had already led the real Paschal Lamb into the house 
of the pagan idolater, while they ^ood at the thresh- 
old without in order not to be excluded by defilement. 

The Three Chief Charges against Jesus. 
To satisfy Pilate's demand for proof of guilt, they 
announced three charges, for each of which appeared 
ten witnesses. And these charges they so formulated 
as to brand Jesus an offender again^ Caesar. Were 
He merely a transgressor of their own religious laws, 
they would have to deal with Him themselves, and 
thus could not have Him put to death. Their fir^ 
charge was: "Jesus is a seducer of the people, an 
agitator and peace-di^urber." And they brought 
forth proofs, supported by witnesses. Thus, for 
in^ance: "He wanders around over the country, 
presides at great gatherings of the people, does not 
observe the Sabbath, heals the sick on that day." Here 
Pilate threw in a sarca^ic remark : "Were you sick 
yourselves, I don't think his cures would cause you so 
much displeasure." They went on "He teaches the 
people mo^ abominable dodtrines, for in^ance, that 
they mu^ eat His flesh and blood in order to have 
eternal life." Pilate felt a ^rong aversion for the 
driving fury wherewith they urged the accusation. 
He exchanged knowing smiles with his officers, and 
threw back to the Jews sharp replies, for in^ance: 
"Really, it seems you have accepted his teaching and 
are desirous of eternal life. For you surely are trying 
to devour his flesh and blood. 
202 



Jesus before Pilate. 



The second charge was: "Jesus arouses the 
people not to pay tribute to Caesar." At this Pilate 
interrupted them angrily, insulted at being repre- 
sented ignorant of a matter that belonged to his office. 
"That is a plump falsehood" he said emphatically; "I 
know better." But the Jews insi^ed it was so, and to 
prove it brought forth their third charge: "Jesus, 
though of birth lowborn, doubtful, suspedled, had 
nevertheless won a great multitude of followers and 
called down woe upon Jerusalem. Parables, too, of 
double mecuiing he had scattered among the people, 
about a king who made a marriage for his son. Once 
indeed, the multitude gathered round him on a 
mountain had prepared to proclaim him king, but he 
had felt it was too soon and had hid himself. But in 
these Ici^ days he had grown bolder, and had held a 
pompous entry into Jerusalem, on which occasion he 
had accepted royal honors, for in^ance, by approving 
such ovations as : "Hosanna to the Son of David ! 
Praised cmd exalted be the kingdom of our father 
David, of him who now comes in triumph." Further, 
he taught everywhere that he was, and let himself be 
called : "The Chri^, the Anointed of the Lord, the 
Messicis, the promised King of the Jews." In support 
of this charge, too, ten witnesses were brought forward. 

This la^ charge, that Jesus let himself be called 
*Chri^' and *King of the Jews,* made some impression 
on Pilate. He retired from the open terrace into the 
neighboring hall of*ju^ice, casing as he went a scru- 
tinizing glance at Jesus, and commanded the guards 
to bring the prisoner before him. 

Pilate was a super^itious doubter in religion, and 

203 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



an incon^ant weathercock in character. He had all 
kinds of dim notions about sons of his gods who had 
lived on earth. He knew also that the Jewish proph- 
ets had long since foretold an Anointed of the Lord, 
a Redeemer, a Liberator, a King, and that many Jews 
were now awaiting His coming. He knew that kings 
from the Ea^ had paid a visit to old King Herod, and 
made inquiry about a new-bom King of the Jews 
whom they were come to adore, and that thereupon 
Herod had ordered many children to be slain. But 
these reports about a Messias and King of the Jews 
he, a zealous idol-worshipper, could consider only as 
fables. What kind of King should that be? At the 
higher a triumphcint conqueror, like the ruler ex- 
pedted by the rationali^ic Jews and the Herodicins. 
The more absurd, consequently, seemed to him the 
charge that the wretched and disfigured prisoner now 
before him was really claiming to be this King, this 
Anointed of God. But as the Jews had accused Jesus 
of insi^ing on that claim, and thus of infringing on 
the privileges of Caesar, Pilate felt bound to have the 
prisoner brought before him for hearing. 

He put on a look of surprise and ssud to Jesus : 
"So thou art that King of the Jews?" And Jesus 
answered : "Sayeil thou this thing of thyself or have 
others told it to thee of Me?" Pilate was angry that 
Jesus should seem to hold him foolish enough to take 
such a miserable wretch for a real king, and retorted 
contemptuously something as follows : "Do^ thou take 
me for a Jew, that thou thinkeil I should know aught 
of these contemptible tales? Thy own nation and its 
prie^s have brought this charge agciinit thee and 
204 



j 



Jesus before Pilate, 

have delivered thee up to me. What ha^ thou 
done ?" Hereupon Jesus spoke to him eameilly and 
solemnly: "My kingdom is not of this world. If My 

kingdom were of this world, I would have servants j 

who would have striven for me that I should not be ) 

delivered to the Jews : but now My kingdom is not | 

from hence." ! 

These earnest words of Jesus threw Pilate into a I 

kind of agitation, and his que^ion showed he had j 

grown serious : "So after all, then, thou art really a i 

king ?" And Jesus replied : "Thou saye^ it, I am a j 

king. For this I was born, and for this came I into 1 

the world, that I should give te^imony to the truth. ; 

Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice." j 

Pilate gave Him a look and said as he rose : "Truth ! ! 

What is truth?" Something further was said but I I 

cannot recall it exadlly. i 

i 
J 

"I Find No Cause in Him." 1 

Pilate again Pepped out on the terrace. He 
could not underhand Jesus, but so much was clear i 
that his prisoner was not a king who could in any 
way harm Caesar. He claimed no kingdom in this ; 
world, and Caesar was not concerned with a kingdom 
from another world. So from the terrace he called i 
out to the high prieits below : "I find no guilt in this | 
man." Again their bitter fury broke loose and poured 
out a flood of accusations again^ Him. Our Lord j 
^ood there in silence, praying for them. Pilate turned 
to Him and asked : "Ha^ thou nothing to say again^ 
all these charges?" But Jesus answered him never a i 

205 j 



The Passion of Jesus Chrigl. 



word, so that Pilate wondered exceedingly, and said : 
"I see clearly they are using lies againil thee" (he 
had a peculiar word for *lies,' but I have forgotten 
what it is.) But the accusers cried out furiously: 
"What, thou finde^ no guilt in him ? He agitates the 
entire nation, for he scatters his dodlrines broadca^ 
through the land, beginning from Galilee even unto 
here. Is that no guilt?" 

On hearing the word 'Galilee^ Pilate paused a 
moment, and then called down to them : "Is this man 
a Galilean, a subject of Herod." "Yes" came the 
answer. "His parents lived in Nazareth, and Caphar- 
naum is now his dwelling-place." "Well, then," said 
Pilate, "since he is a Galilean and one of Herod's 
subje<5ts, lead him before Herod. He is here for the 
Fe^ival, let him pass judgment on your prisoner." 
He ordered Jesus to be led down again to His enemies, 
and sent an officer to announce to Herod the coming 
before him for judgment of one of his Galilean 
subjedts, Jesus of Nazareth. Pilate was glad to be rid 
of an unpleasant affair. He felt an uncanny fear at 
the thought of condemning Jesus. Besides, from 
political motives, he was pleased at the opportunity 
of giving a proof of his goodwill to Herod, with whom 
he had been living in enmity. 

The high prie^s were exceedingly enraged at 
being thus, in presence of the multitude, dismissed by 
Pilate and compelled to move on to Herod; and the 
full measure of their new-flaring wrath fell on Jesus, 
again they drove the court policemen to surround 
Him, amid a ^orm of prods and blows and with 
temper-like ha^e, across the crowded forum and on 
206 



Jesus before Pilate. 



through a ^eet to the not far di^ant palace of Herod. 
Roman soldiers went along. 

During the la^ ^age of Pilate^s dealings with the 
prie^, he had through a servant received a message 
that his wife, Claudia Procles, was urgently Wciiting to 
speak with him. And while Jesus was being led 
away to Herod, she ^ood unobserved on some high 
gallery, watching with dismal forebodings the passage 
of the procession across the forum. 

First Beginnings of the 
Way of the Cross. 

During the trial before Pilate, Our Lady, Magdalen 
and John had been among the multitude on the forum. 
They ^ood at a recess in one of the halls, likening 
with heart-breaking pain to the wild waves of din and 
clamior. When Jesus was hurried away to Herod, 
John led Our Blessed Lady and Magdalen back along 
the entire length of the road passed over by Our Lord 
in His Passion : Back to Caiphas, to Ann£is, through 
Ophel, to Gethsemani on Mount Olivet. At every 
spot where He had fallen, or had undergone some 
particular outrage they ^ood itill, and mourned, and 
suffered again what He had there suffered. Our Lady 
often sank down to the ground and kissed the earth 
where Jesus had fallen, while Magdalen ^ood wringing 
her hcmds in desolation, and John wept with them, 
consoled them, encouraged them, and led them on. 
Thus began the devotion of the way of the Cross, the 
compsissionate contemplation and veneration of Our 
Lord's Passion, even before the Passion itself weis 

207 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



consummated. In the Virgin Mother, the holie^ 
blossom of mankind, began the devotion of the Church 
to the sorrows of the Son. Even while He was yet 
wandering midway down His path of pain, the Vessel 
of Election, the Mother of Divine Grace, was moi^en- 
ing with tears of veneration the footprints of her Son 
and her God. 

Great God, who could describe her agony? 
With what piercing power and pain the sword made 
its way through and took up its abode in her heart ! 
How it all came back to her now! Was she really 
the Mother whose blessed womb had borne, whose 
brcci^ had nourished, this Man of Sorrows? Had 
He, the Word — that was in the beginning with God, 
the Word that was God — had He been carried nine 
months beneath her heart, been cared for, watched 
over, and nourished at her brea^? Yes, 'twas all 
too true! She who had borne and felt His young 
life before He came forth to aid and bless and heal 
and teach His brethren — she was now sharing His 
la^ agony, sharing likewise His consuming thir^ for 
the redemption of men. And thus the Pure and 
Immaculate One was setting an example which Holy 
Church has never ceased to imitate. She followed 
her Son ^ep by ^ep along the thorny Way of the 
Cross, bending reverently down at each successive 
Nation to gather His merits, like one gathering flowers 
from the wayside, then rising to lift those merits, more 
precious than gems and diamonds, with her pure 
hands up to God. All that ever was holy in mankind, 
ail that is or shall be, all who had ever longed for 
redemption, ail who ever would gaze with compassion 
208 



Jesus before Pilate, 



on the loving Passion of Our Savior — all these lived 
in her heart during those holy moments, all wandered, 
and mourned, and prayed, and sacrificed in the 
Dolorous Heart of her who was Mother of God and 
Mother of men. 

Magdalen seemed to be out of her senses with 
grief. She had a boundless and holy love for Jesus, 
but whenever she attempted to pour out her soul in 
love at His feet, as she once poured spikenard over 
His head, she felt a shuddering abyss of horror open 
up between her and her love. For ju^ as boundless 
as her love and gratitude, was likewise her contrition 
for sin. So when she would swing the vessel of her 
love and send the incense-clouds of gratitude to her 
Lord, then she would see Jesus cruelly driven to death 
on her account. Then her love shuddered at sight of 
her guilt, and threw itself into the abyss of sorrow. 
That abyss her love could neither sound to the depths 
nor fill to the top, so it hurried back full of longing 
for its Ma^er only again to find Him brutally tortured 
for her Scike. Thus her soul was violently torn asun- 
der, and precipitated, as it were, back and forth from 
love to sorrow, from her own gratitude to the ingrati- 
tude of her people, while the agony she felt in soul 
was written in her words her motions and her whole 
appearance. 

John was filled with loving compcission as he 
moved for the fir^ time in the company of Our Lady 
along the bloody footprints of His Lord and Ma^er, 
his soul meanwhile gazing prophetically on the future 
de^inies of the Church. 

209 

*I4 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Paate and His Wife. 

While Jesus was on His way to the mockeries 
that awaited Him before Herod, I saw Pilate pay a 
visit to his wife, Claudia Procles. In the elevated 
terrace behind Pilate's palace was a garden-house, 
and in this they came together. Claudia was in a 
^ate of extreme agitation. She was a tall, fine-look- 
ing woman, somewhat pale. From her head a veil 
dropped back over her shoulders, but through it her 
hair could be seen, gathered round in braids and 
budded with ornaments. In her ears and round her 
neck ornaments were likewise visible, and her long, 
ample, many-folded dress was secured at the brea^ 
by some kind of precious brooch. She talked to 
Pilate for a long time, imploring him by all he held 
sacred not to harm the prophet named Jesus, the Holy 
of Holies, concerning whom she had that night seen 
such wonderful visions. 

While she talked with him I too saw many of her 
visions, but I cannot bring them before me now in 
proper order. But these points I do remember : She 
saw, fir^ of all, the prominent events in His life — His 
annunciation. His birth, the adoration of the shep- 
herds and the Magi, the prophecies of Simeon and 
Anna, the flight into Egypt, the massacre of the Holy 
Innocents, the temptation in the desert, etc. She 
had further, general visions of His holy and healing 
public life, wherein He was con^antly wrapped in 
light, while His plotting and malicious enemies ap- 
peared in mo^ fearful forms. She saw the sandity 
and the sorrows of His Mother, and His own un- 

210 



Jesus before Pilate. 



wearied love and patience amid such infinite pain. 
All this she saw in closely-crowded pidlures, surrounded 
with symbols of light and darkness and many others, 
intended to interpret to her what she had seen. But 
it all threw her into unspeakable sadness and conger- 
nation. All she saw there was so new and Grange, so 
powerfully penetrating and persuasive. Some further 
scenes, as the murder of the Innocents for example, 
and the prophecy of Simeon, she saw enacfted in the 
neighborhood of her own house. And I know full 
well how much a sympathetic soul suffers under such 
visions. As a rule I learn the feelings and emotions 
of others only by feeling them myself. 

Her words threw Pilate into a^onishment, even 
into con^ernation. All he had ever heard of Jesus 
before, the insane fury of the Jews on the present 
occasion, the maje^ic silence of Jesus amid their 
accusations. His wonderful answers to Pilate's own 
questions — all this was by the word of his wife driven 
deeper into his soul. For a while he hesitated what 
course to pursue, but soon yielded to the representa- 
tions of his wife. He had, so he told her, already 
declared to the Jews that he found no guilt in Jesus. 
No, he would not condemn the prisoner. All the 
charges again^ him were trumped up by the hatred 
of bitter enemies. He went on to speak of what Our 
Lord had said to himself, and even gave her a pledge 
that he would not condemn Jesus. 



211 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Jesus before Herod. 

The palace of Herod lay a short di^ance north 
of the forum, in the new sedlion of the city. Furious 
at being compelled thus to run from one place to 
another, Our Lord's captors did not cease to curse 
Him, jerk Him, ^rike Him. A colonnade led into the 
hall where Herod sat to await them. Through this 
colonnade the high prieits filed in, and ranged them- 
selves on either side, with Jesus landing between 
them at the entrance. Herod felt flattered that Pilate 
had publicly proclaimed before the high prie^s his 
right to pass judgment on a Galilean, and his satisfac- 
tion was evident in his swelling, bulling air of im- 
portance. Besides, it pleased him greatly to see 
before him in such humble po^ure a man who had so 
far con^antly refused to appear in his presence. 

As soon as they entered, the high priests began 
to urge their charges mo^ insi^ently. But Herod 
had fixed his curious eyes on Jesus. The barbarous- 
ly maltreated figure, with torn and dishevelled hair, 
with bloody and dirt-begrimed countenance, in slimy 
undergarment, ^ruck the luxurious king with a feel- 
ing both of loathing and of sympathy. He cursed 
with a Divine name, something like *Jehova,' turned 
away with an expression of nausea, and said to the 
prices : "Away with him ! Wash him ! How dare 
you bring such a maltreated, dirt-soaked man before 
me?" Hereupon the jailers drew Jesus out into the 
entrance-hall, procured a basin of water and a kind of 
towel, and ran the towel cruelly over His torn and 
bleeding face. 
212 



Jesus before Herod. 



Within Herod Wcis upbraiding the high prie^ for 
their cruelty. He seemed to be emulating Pilate 
when he said : "The man looks like he has fallen into 
the hands of butchers. Aren't you beginning before 
time today ?" The prie^ only grew more insi^ent 
in urging their complaints and accusations. Jesus 
was brought in again. Herod assumed an air of 
politeness, and ordered a cup of wine for the entirely 
exhau^ed prisoner. But Jesus shook His head and 
would not take the drink offered. 

Herod now grew quite talkative and plied Jesus 
with many que^ions. Jesus gave no answer. It had 
been revealed to me before, and the revelation was 
now repeated, that the reason why Jesus did not 
speak to Herod was the excommunication that lay 
on him by reason of his adulterous union with 
Herodias and the murder of John the Bapti^. 

However incensed at the silence of Jesus, Herod 
did not let his anger get the better of his prudence. 
He was resolved not to condemn Jesus. His reasons 
were : Fir^, he felt a secret terror before his prisoner, 
a terror heightened by his frequent misgivings regard- 
ing the murder of John. Secondly, he hated the 
high prie^s, because they too had never approved his 
adulterous union, and had for this reason excluded 
him from sacrifice. Finally, he was unwilling to con- 
demn anyone whom Pilate had declared innocent. 
It would suit his political purposes admirably to 
flatter Pilate before the high prie^s by sending Jesus 
back uncondemned. Still Jesus had to feel his 
resentment. He overwhelmed Our Lord with words 
of scorn and derision, and finally said to his body- 

213 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



guard, composed of about two hundred men-at-arms : 
"Take the fool away ! Give this ridiculous king the 
honor that is his due! He is a fool rather than a 
knave." So they led Our Lord out into a court-yard, 
and subjedted Him to unspeakable maltreatment and 
mockery. This court-yard was enclosed by the wings 
of the palace, and from a flat roof Herod for some 
time ^ood watching the spectacle. Annas and 
Caiphas were con^antly at his elbow, doing all in 
their power to get him to condemn Jesus. But Herod 
made answer, and in such wise that the Romans heard 
the words : "It would be quite wrong on my part to 
condemn him." He meant, probably : Quite wrong 
again^ Pilate who had been so obliging as to send 
him to me. 

As soon as the high prie^ saw that Herod was 
set again^ their will, they sent some of their number 
to carry money and a message to the many Pharisees 
now dwelling in that part of the city called Acre. 
The message ordered them to get their companies 
together and come to Pilate's palace. With the 
money they were to hire a mob to clamor violently 
for the death of Jesus. Others of their number were 
sent forth to threaten the multitude with a judgment 
of God unless they demanded the death of this 
blasphemer. Finally, they had a rumor spread that 
unless Jesus were put to death He would unite 
with the Romans, theirs being the kingdom He was 
con^antly speaking of, and in that case the Jews 
would be completely undone. 

While the Pharisees were thus busily occupied, 
Our Lord was enduring the extreme of cruel and de- 
214 



Jestts before Herod. 



grading treatment at the hands of an insolent, godless 
crew whofee king, on getting no answer to his questions, 
had himself called Jesus a fool and delivered Him to 
torture. 

Jesus Is Mocked. 

As soon as they got Him into the court-yard, one 
of them went to get a long, white sack, which had 
Iain in a door-keeper's room ever since it had been 
emptied of a load of cotton which it had once brought 
to the palace. With their swords they made a hole 
in the bottom of the sack, and then, amid a general 
bur^ of derision, brought it down over His head. 
Another soldier brought a red rag which he tied round 
Our Lord's neck like a collar, while the sack reached 
far down over His feet. Then the homage of mockery 
began. They bowed down before Him, spat upon 
Him, struck Him in the face, all because He had re- 
fused to give answer to their king. Amid a thousand 
mocking acts of reverence, they bespattered Him with 
filth, jerked Him violently as if to msike Him dance, 
so that the wide, dragging mantle of mockery came 
under His feet and threw Him to the ground. Then 
they hauled Him through a gutter that ran along the 
walls round the court-yard, seeing to it that His head 
struck again^ columns and corner-^ones. That done, 
they jerked Him again to His feet and enadted round 
Him some new scene of turmoil and torture. Some 
two hundred of Herod's soldiers and menials mu^ 
have been engaged in the tcisk. Being of many 
different nationalities, they were eager to outdo one 
another, and each leader in the wicked work sought 
to gain di^ndlion for himself and fellow-countrymen 

215 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



in the eyes of Herod by inflidling on Our Lord some 
vile and cruel invention of his own. 

The whole proceeding was carried on with 
tempe^uous ha^e, amid excitement, and turmoil, and 
shouting. Many of his torturers, in return for money 
received from Our Lord's enemies, took advantage of 
the confusion to give Him blows on the head with 
heavy clubs. Jesus looked at them so touchingly, 
and moaned with pain: but they simply aped and 
mocked His groans. Every fresh manife^ation of 
cruelty was followed by a new outbur^ of loud derision: 
There was not one who showed mercy. I saw the 
blood run down pitifully over His face, and three times 
He sank to the ground under these fearful cudgel- 
blows. But I also saw how weeping angels appeared 
above Him to anoint His head, and I underwood that 
were it not for this Divine assi^ance these blows 
would have been fatal. 

But time was pressing, and the high prie^s had 
soon to go to the Temple. So when news came that 
all their messages had been delivered, they made a 
la^ eager appeal to Herod for Our Lord's condemna- 
tion. But Herod's eyes were firmly fixed on Pilate. 
He ordered the prisoner, clothed in the mock-dress of 
a fool, to be sent back to the Roman governor. 

From Herod to Pilate. 

The high prie^s returned with ^ill more furious 
rage than they came. How bitterly humiliating to 
bring Him back uncondemned to the spot where He 
had already been declared innocent ! To have some 
216 



From Herod to Pilate. 



revenge they chose to return by another road, prob- 
ably twice as long as tlie one by which they came. 
Thus they could show His degradation to another 
portion of the people, have longer opportunity to 
maltreat Him, and allow their agents more time to 
influence the gathering crowds in their favor. 

This return way was much more rough and un- 
even thsui the other, and along its whole course the 
hangmen were incited by the prie^s to do their wor^ to 
Jesus. The long sack dragged along in the mud and 
tripped Him, so that He sometimes fell, only to be 
^ruck on the head, and kicked, and jerked by the 
ropes again to His feet. Amid the indescribable 
derision and shuddering cruelties heaped upon Him 
both by His captors and the multitude. He was pray- 
ing to be kept alive that He might consummate His 
Passion for us. 

During the following scenes were present in a 
hall, where they could slip back and forth and observe 
all that went on : Our Blessed Lady, her elder si^er 
Mary of Heli, her niece Mary of Cleophas, Magdalen, 
and about twenty other holy women. John, too, was 
present in the beginning. 

As Jesus in His mock-garment drew near, the 
jeers and taunts grew louder. The Pharisees and 
their agents set the example, and sought out the mo^ 
insolent among the populace to assist them. One of 
Herod^s courtiers had been sent to Pilate to express 
the king's high appreciation of the compliment paid 
him by the governor, and to announce that he was 
returning the prisoner, as he had found the famous 
Galilean to be nothing but a speechless fool. It 

217 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



pleased Pilate to find that Herod agreed with him in 
not condemning Jesus. He returned the greetings of 
the king and the two former enemies now became 
friends. 

Onwards Jesus was led, across the ^reet in 
front of Pilate's house, and up the ^eps to the elevated 
terrace where he had been before. But in getting up 
the ^eps the cruel jerkings of the hangmen brought 
the dragging cotton-sack again under His feet and 
threw Him so violently that blood broke from His 
sacred head and Gained the marble whiteness of the 
^airs. His fall evoked a buril of derision from His 
enemies who had again occupied their seats at the 
side of the forum. The ruffian multitude joined in 
the loud laugh, and the hemgmen drove Him with 
kicks up the ^airs again. 

Pilate was leaning back in his chair, the little table 
near him, and around him ^ood some officers and 
men with rolls of parchment. He now rose, went to 
the front of the terrace, and said to the accusers of 
Jesus below : "You have delivered this man to me as 
one that perverteth the people. I have examined him 
before you, and found him not guilty of those things 
wherein you accuse him. No, nor Herod either. For 
1 sent you to him, and behold, nothing worthy of death 
has been found in the prisoner. I will cha^ise him 
therefore, and release him." These words called forth 
a ^orm of noisy murmurs and prote^ from the 
Pharisees, and threats and money poured out on the 
multitude ^ill more freely. 

But the time was now come when, according to 
an old Paschal custom, the people appeared before 
218 



From Herod to Pilate. 



the governor to demeind the release of some prisoner. 
Pilate hoped they would demand the release of Jesus, 
and determined to name along with Him a fearful 
malefadtor already condemned to death, that they 
might be forced to choose Our Lord. This malefac- 
tor was called Barabbas and accursed by all the peo- 
ple. During a sedition he had committed murder, 
and I saw likewise many other heinous deeds he had 
perpetrated. 

And now there was a movement £imong the 
people in the forum, and a number of them pressed 
forward, preceded by their spokesmen. The latter 
raised their voices up towards the terrace, crying: 
"Pilate ! Do unto us as thou ha^ always done on the 
Fea^." Pilate was ju^ waiting for the word, and 
answered : "You have the cu^om that I release to 
you a prisoner on the solemn day. Which will you 
to be released unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, the 
King of the Jews, who is called Chri^ ?" 

"Away with Him, Give Us Barabbas!" 
Pilate's que^ion was followed by a brief pause of 
hesitation and reflection on the part of the great mass 
of the multitude, and ju^ a few voices were heard to 
cry : "Barabbas!" Pilate was called away by a servant 
of his wife. On Pepping back he was shown the 
pledge he had given her in the morning, while the 
servant said : "Claudia Procles sends you this pledge 
as a reminder." Below the Pharisees and high 
prie^ were busy at work, some of them moving 
hazily among the multitude with threats and com- 
mands. But the task was an easy one. 

219 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 



Our Lady, Magdalen, John, and the holy women 
were landing in a retired corner of one of the halls. 
They were trembling and weeping. Our Lady, it is 
true, knew there was no hope for men except in the 
death of Jesus, yet the Mother's heart was in agony 
to keep her Son alive. Ju^ as Jesus, though he 
became man of His own will in order to die on the 
cross, yet on the way to that cross suffered torture 
and cruelty and scorn ju^ as would any other inno- 
cent man in the same condition: so Our Blessed 
Lady felt the torturing anguish that any other mother 
would on seeing her son thus led to death by a moil 
ungrateful people. With her companions she trem- 
bled between fear and hope, while John frequently 
left them for a little while to see if he could bring 
them good news. 

So Our Lady was praying that the fearful crime 
might be averted. She repeated the words of Jesus 
on Mount Olivet : "If it be possible let this chalice 
pass from me." She ^ill felt a glimmer of hope, 
because along with the news that passed from lip to 
lip among the people about what the Pharisees were 
so zealous to accomplish, came likewise the report 
that Pilate was endeavoring to release Our Savior. 
Not far from her ^ood some bands of people from 
Capharnaum, among them many whom Jesus had 
healed and taught. They adled as if half-grange, 
casing covert glances at John and the veiled group 
of unhappy women. But Mary felt sure, and so did 
her companions, that these people at leait would 
rejedl Barabbas in^ead of their Benefadlor and Savior. 
Yet so it was not to be. 
220 



The Scourging. 

Pilate had returned to his wife the pledge she 
had sent him as a sign that his promise ^ill held good. 
He now Pepped out on the terrace again, and sat 
down on the chair next the table. The high prie^s, 
too, had again taken their seats. Pilate called out 
once more : "Which of the two shall I release unto 
you?" Then came from all sides of the crowded 
forum a loud and general shout: "Away with this 
man, release Barabbas unto us !" Pilate cried out : 
"What, then, shall I do with Jesus who is called 
Chri^." The answer came in a violent roar : "Crucify 
him! Crucify him!" And for the third time Pilate 
asked : "But what evil has he done ? I at lea^ find 
no guilt worthy of death. So I will scourge him and 
let him go." But the fearful cry: "Crucify him! 
Crucify him !" raged like a very ^orm of Hell round 
about, and the high prices and the Pharisees shouted 
and howled with insane fury. Pilate, weak and 
wavering, yielded to their tempe^uous passion, 
released unto them Barabbas, and condemned Jesus 
to be scourged. 

The Scourging. 

Pilate, low-minded, undecided, wavering judge, 
had several times already pronounced the self-con- 
tradidtory word : "I find no guilt in him, therefore I 
will cha^ise him and let him go." But the loud- 
clamoring hubbub: "Crucify him! Crucify him!" 
continued unabated. Nevertheless Pilate was ^ill in 
hopes he could have his own way, and ordered Jesus 
to be scourged in the Roman fashion. Hereupon 

221 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



the short, heavy cudgels of the hangmen drove Jesus, 
already so bruised and broken and bespattered, 
down ^airs and on through the raging multitude out 
upon the forum north of Pilate's house to a scourging 
pillar landing in front of one of the halls that sur- 
round the market place. 

The scourgers threw their instruments at the 
foot of the pillar and came forward to meet Jesus. 
They were six in number, dark swarthy men, in 
Mature smaller than Jesus, with bri^ly, scabby hair, 
and thin, bubble-like beard. A cloth round the loins, 
thin soles on their feet, and a kind of scapular, made 
of leather or some similar cheap material, that came 
down over back and breab but bood open at the 
sides — such was their clothing. Degraded criminals 
from Egypt were kept in Jersualem as slaves and 
prisoners, being employed in eredting buildings or 
digging canals, and the mob malicious and vile-minded 
among them were chosen to do hsuigman's services 
for the goverment. 

At different times already these fearful wretches 
had scourged prisoners to death. They had some- 
thing becibly, devilish about them, and seemed to be 
half-drunk. Though Our Lord moved along quite 
willingly, they began to beat and tear Him, and drag- 
ged Him with fury to the pillar. The pillar or column 
bands by itself, not serving to support any part of 
the building. The column is jub high enough for a 
tall man with outbretched arms to reach the iron ring 
fabened at the center of the circular-shape top. At 
back of the column midway up and down, other rings 
and hooks are fabened. It is impossible to describe 

222 



The Scourging. 



the barbarous brutality wherewith these raging dogs 
fell on Jesus, tearing at the mock-mantle of Herod, 
and dragging Him to the ground. 

Jesus shook and trembled before the column. In 
palpitating ha^e He removed His garments with His 
own hands, while they dragged and tore at Him — with 
His own hands, bruised and bleeding and swollen from 
the tightly-drawn cords. His prayer as He disrobed 
was so touching, and He turned for a moment to 
His sorrow-slricken Mother who ^ood with the holy 
women in a comer of the colonnades, not far from 
the column of flagellation. As He turned back to 
the column for protedtion again^ exposure, since He 
had to remove even the loin-cloth, He spoke to her 
these words : "Turn thy eyes away from Me." I know 
not whether the words were spoken outwardly or only 
inwardly. But I saw that Mary understood them, for 
at the same moment she turned away and sank un- 
conscious into the arms of the veiled women who 
surrounded her. 

Jesus now put His arms round the column, and 
the hangmen, amid fearful cursing, pulled and jerked 
at Him till they had His holy hands Wretched across 
the top of the column and fa^ened together behind 
the iron ring. He was drawn up so high that His 
holy feet, bound tightly to the column, could barely 
touch the ground. And now in infinite anguish and 
shame the Holy of Holies ^ood exposed in all the 
weakness of humanity, bound fa^ to the column 
denned for the most degraded criminals, while two 
blood-thir^ wretches seized their weapons and be- 
gan to lacerate His sacred body from head to foot. 

223 



The Passion of Jesus Chriil. 



This fir^ pair of scourges seemed to be made of 
some tough sort of white wood; but perhaps they 
were plaited from ^iff oxen sinews or hard ^raps of 
white leather. 

Under the lacerating blows of these criminals. 
Our Savior, the Son of God, true God and true Man 
quivered and writhed like some poor tortured worm. 
He moaned with pain, and out through the hissing 
^ream of lashes came clear sweet tones of lamenta- 
tion, like loving words of prayer from the lips of a 
lacerated soul. But time and again these pitiful yet 
benedidtion-bringing moans were swallowed up by 
the black ^orm of yells from the people and the 
Pharisees. "Away with him! Crucify him!" came 
the roaring cry from all sides. Pilate was ^ill parley- 
ing with the multitude. Whenever he wished to 
speak, there first resounded a trumpet-like blail, which 
silenced the fierce din and clamor for some moments. 
And then through the silence were heard the hissing 
of the scourges, the lamentations of Jesus, the curses 
of the executioners, and the bleating of the Ea^er 
lambs from the pool where they were being washed, 
which pool lay ea^ of the forum and near the so- 
called Probatica (Sheep-gate). 

Alongside the guard-house I saw some infamous, 
slightly-clothed young^ers engaged in preparing fresh 
scourges while others went to get bundles of thorns. 
Some of the hangmen in the service of the high prieils 
were in communication with the scourgers and were 
healthily giving them money. Some one brought 
them a large jug filled with some thick red liquor, 
which infuriated them completely. A quarter of an 
224 



The Scourging. 



hour had hardly elapsed, when the fir^ pair of scourg- 
ers ceased from their task and joined the second 
pair, whereupon all four began to drink together. 
Our Savior's body was beaten black and blue, and 
His flesh was lacerated in every direction with palpi- 
tating red Gripes down which His Sacred Blood was 
trickling to the ground. He ^ood there trembling 
and quivering while sounds of derision poured in 
upon Him from all sides. 

And now the second pair fell upon Him with 
fresh fury. They had a different kind of lash, so 
woven that the outer surface bridled with something 
like thorns, with knobs and spurs interspersed. Be- 
neath this horrible onslaught all His bleeding Gripes 
were torn open and His Blood spouted roundabout 
in a circle, sprinkling the very arms of His execution- 
ers. Jesus moaned, and prayed, and quivered. 

A caravan on camels was now passing the forum. 
The Grangers inquired of the people what was taking 
place, and gcized with pity and con^ernation at the 
scene. Some of these travellers had received bap- 
tism, others had been present at the Sermon on the 
Mount. — The loud din and clamor in front of Pilate's 
, house continued unabated. 

The third pair of executioners used real scourges 
consi^ing of an iron handle to which were fa^ened 
small chains or ^raps, each ending in an iron hook. 
With these fearful weapons they tore away whole 
pieces of flesh and skin so that His very ribs could 
be seen. Oh, who can describe the pity and the 
horror of that scene ! 



225 

15 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



''Stop This ! Don't Beat an Innocent Man 
to Death !" 

But the scene of abomination mu^ go ^ill 
further. They loosened His cords and turned His 
back to the column. He was so exhau^ed that He 
was no longer able to ^and, so they bound Him fa^ 
with thin ^raps round the brea^ under His arms and 
round the legs under the knees, while His hands were 
tighdy drawn together behind the middle sedtion of 
the column. Crouched down and shrunken together 
with pain, that adorable Body was one mass of lacer- 
ated flesh and bleeding wounds. Like furious dogs 
the executioners heaped blow on blow. One of them 
had in his left hand a lash somewhat finer in nature, 
wherewith to cut and slash His face. Not a sound 
spot was more to be found in His Body. He fixed 
His eyes overflowing with blood upon His persecu- 
tors asking for mercy. But they merely raged the 
more furiously, and His groans grew ever more soft 
and low. 

The fearful scene had la^ed about three quarters 
of an hour when a Granger of low rank, a relative of 
the blind Ctesiphon who had been healed by Jesus, 
sprang, with a sickle-shaped knife in his hand, to the 
rear of the column, crying angrily : "Stop this ! Don't 
beat an innocent man to death !" In amazement the 
drunken executioners ceased ^riking, and the Gran- 
ger drove his knife seemingly with one ^roke through 
the knot which had been formed round a large iron 
nail, at which all the cords that bound Jesus came 
together. Hereupon the man fled, disappearing again 
in the multitude. But the Savior's lacerated frame 
226 



1 



The Scourging. j 

fell in a heap on the ground at the foot of the column, j 

and lay there as if unconscious encircled by His own j 

Blood. The executioners let Him be, turned to take j 

a drink, and shouted encouragement to their shame- j 

less assi^ants who were engaged near the guard-house j 
in plaiting a crown of thorns. 

While Jesus lay there at the foot of the column, | 

bathed in blood and quivering with pain, an insolent ] 

group of shamelessly-dressed women came to the spot. I 

They held one another's hands, and ^ood ^ill to ^are ! 
at Him, ever and anon turning away in disguit. At 
this His pain grew ^ill more unendurable, and He 
raised His torn and bloody face so pitifully towards 
them. Hereupon they went away while the execu- 
tioners and soldiers shouted vile remarks after them. 

Several times during the scourging I saw what seemed | 

to be mourning angels appear round Jesus, and con- I 

^antly through the piercing hail of ignominious pain ] 

I heard Him give Himself to God for man. And now i 

while He lay thus in His blood I saw an angel who , 

came to refresh Him. It seemed to me the angel l 

placed some shining morsel in His mouth. j 

But here come the executioners again. They | 

began to kick him, telling him to get up, they were } 

not yet through with the King. They struck at Him, \ 

and Jesus reached painfully for His loin-cloth which ^ 

lay a little di^ance away. But with shouts of derision I 

the accursed wretches began to kick it back and forth, ! 
so that the naked figure on the ground had to turn 

and twi^ like some trampled worm before He could j 

get a covering for His lacerated loins. Renewed 1 

kicks and blows put Him again on His tottering feet. j 

227 1 
I 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



They gave Him no time to put on His undergarment, 
simply threw it over His shoulders with the sleeves 
hanging down in hront. With this garment He wiped 
the blood from His face on the roundabout way o'er 
which they hazily led Him to the guard-house. 

Our Lady during the Scourging of Jesus. 

During the scourging of Our Redeemer I saw our 
Blessed Lady in uninterrupted ec^asy. In her inner- 
mo^ soul, with unutterable love and pain, she saw 
and endured all that He endured. Soft tones of 
lamentation often broke from her lips, and her eyes 
were burning with tears. Wrapped in her veil she 
lay quietly in the arms of her elder si^er Mary of Heli. 
The latter was far advanced in years and bore a great 
resemblance to her mother, Anne. Her daughter, 
Mary of Cleophas, was likewise present, clinging 
generally to the arm of her mother. The other holy 
women, friends of Mary and Jesus, were all veiled 
and muffled, trembling with fear and sorrow, all gath- 
ered closely round Our Blessed Lady and moaning 
softly as if awaiting their own death-sentence. Mary 
wore a long and flowing garment, almo^ as blue as 
the heavens, and over it a mantle white as snow, with 
a veil of yellowish golden white. Magdalen was 
broken and shattered with sorrow, her hair hanging 
loose under her veil. 

While Jesus lay at the base of the column, I saw 
Claudia Procles, Pilate's wife, send to Our Lady some 
large pieces of linen. I do not know di^indtly now, 
whether this sympathetic pagan womcin ^ill thought 
228 



The Scourging. 



that Jesus would be released, or whether she meant 
them for the purpose for which Our Lady really 
used them. 

Mary had come to herself, and now saw her 
lacerated Son driven pa^ her by the hangmen. With 
His poor garment He wiped the blood from His eyes 
in order to see His Mother. She Wretched her hands 
out to Him, and followed His bloody footileps with 
her eyes. And now, as the multitude turned aside, I 
saw Our Lady and Magdalen approach the column, 
throw themselves on the ground, and begin to absorb 
the Blood of Jesus with those pieces of cloth. Sur- 
rounded and protected by the holy women, and by 
some other good people who joined the company, 
they continued their loving task till they had secured 
even the lea^ trace of those precious ^ains. — It was 
now about nine o'clock in the morning. 

I no longer saw John with the holy women, who 
numbered about twenty. Simeon's son, Obed's son, 
Veronica's son, and Joseph of Arimathea's two neph- 
ews Aram and Themeni, were sadly and fearfully 
performing their duties in the Temple. 

During all this horrible time I was now one place 
and now another in Jerusalem. I felt so whipped 
and tortured, so overwhelmed with pain and sick 
unto death. While they were scourging my beloved 
Bridegroom, I sat at a comer nearby. No Jew dared 
go there for fear of becoming unclean. But I felt no 
fear. Oh no, I sat down there and wished rather to 
be made clean, to have even one drop of His cleans- 
ing Blood fall on me. Oh, 1 was so sick, so pierced 
with pain, I thought I would surely die. I could do 

229 



The Passion of Jesus ChriS. 



nothing, absolutely nothing, had to let things ju^ as 
they were, while compassion was killing me. I 
moaned and trembled at every blow, and was always 
wondering why they did not drive me away. 

Alas, how touching the sight of my beloved 
Bridegroom as His lacerated body lay there at the 
foot of the column weltering in His own blood ! How 
abominable those wretched women as they passed 
by, faring, mocking, nauseating ! How pitifully His 
look said to them : "You have lacerated Me thus, and 
you now come to mock Me!" How brutally the 
executioners kicked Him to get up, made Him reach 
and creep so painfully for His garments, and drove 
Him to His feet and dragged Him pa^ His Dolorous 
Mother ! And, O God, the sight of Our Lady as she 
wrung her hands and riveted her eyes on His bloody 
footprints! Through the now open doors of the 
gueird-house I heard come forth on the market-place 
the mocking cries of the vile-minded hangman 
helpers, as with hands encased in gloves they plaited 
the crown of thorns, and derisively touched the points 
to te^ their sharpness. 

Sick and afraid, all shaking and trembling, I was 
ju^ on the point of hurrying away to see my Bride- 
groom in His new pain, when His poor Mother crept 
near and began, while the holy women and some 
good men formed a circle to conceal her, to gather 
up so lovingly the Blood of her Son round the 
column, seeking its traces wherever they had sprink- 
led. How horrible Weis that roaring and bellowing of 
the enemies of Jesus and of the multitude while Our 
Savior was being led through ! I felt my soul so torn 
230 



The Scourging. 



and sick, my pain and anguish so overpowering that 
I could not weep, and yet I felt it my duty to gather 
my length together and go to see Jesus crowned 
with thorns. 

Appeso'ance of Our Lady and of Magdalen. 

Our Lady's cheeks were pale and wan, her nose 
somewhat long but indicating refinement, her eyes 
burned red hrom weeping. There is something won- 
derful about her, an appearance of neatness, simplicity 
and harmony that beggars description. Ju^ think! 
Yesterday and all la^ night she has been wandering 
and trembling and weeping through the Valley of 
Josaphat and the Greets of Jerusalem, and yet her 
garments are ^ill neat and clean, not in any way 
soiled or disarramged. Not a single fold but breathes 
holiness. She is the very picflure of unsullied purity 
and harmonious simplicity. She shows such impress- 
ive dignity, and her veil falls into such pure and 
simple folds when she turns her head to look ziround. 
None of her movements are violent or impulsive, and 
amid the mo^ heart-breaking sorrow her every adt is 
marked by reflection eind calmness. The dews of 
night eind countless tears are on her garment, yet 
they are ^ill free from all dirt and disorder. She is 
ineffably, transcendently beautiful — beautiful with 
the beauty of superhuman Painlessness, and truth, 
and symmetry, and dignity, and holiness. 

Magdalen wears an altogether different appear- 
ance. She is larger than Our Lady, and her form and 
bearing betray a more ^died elegance. But the 
unchecked violence of her sorrow and compsission 

231 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



have turned her beauty into ugliness, almo^ repul- 
siveness. Her garments are damp and muddy, and 
somewhat torn and untidy and disarranged, while her 
long hair tumbles down in loose disorder beneath 
her damp and tattered veil. She is the very pidture 
of desolation, can think of nothing but her sorrow, 
looks almo^ as if she had lo^ her mind. Around 
her here on the forum are many people from Magdala 
and vicinity, people who had known her in that pre- 
vious life of extravagant sinfulness that ended in the 
depths of degradation. All eyes are now turned upon 
one who had so long concealed her sin, and the 
fingers of all point scornfully at the figure of beauty 
now transformed into ruin and desolation, while some 
even go so far as to throw mud at her as they 
pass. But of all this she is unconscious, she is too 
deeply plunged in agonizing grief. 



The Crown of Thorns. 

While Jesus was being scourged Pilate continued 
his negotiations with the people. But all in vain. 
Once they even shouted back: "He mu^ be done 
away with, if it co^s us all our lives !" When Jesus 
was led away to be crowned they were ^ill crying : 
"Away with him, away with him !" The high prie^ 
had their envoys ^ill busily engaged, and ever fresh 
crowds were coming in to swell the ranks of the 
roaring multitude on the forum. 

After they had absorbed the blood of Jesus I saw 
Our Lady and her company leave the forum. I next 
232 



The Crown of Thorns. 



saw them, the precious cloths in their hands, in a 
small house, built again^ a wall, and not far from 
here. I do not remember to whom it belonged. Nor 
do I remember to have seen John during the scourg- 
ing. 

The derisive coronation with thorns took place 
in the inner court-yard of the guard-house, which 
latter was situated over the dungeons at one side of 
the forum, and was surrounded by a colonnade, be- 
neath which the entrance-doors now ^ood open. 
About fifty vile-minded wretches were engaged in 
crowning and mocking Jesus: Soldier servants, jail 
servants, slaves, hangmen and scourgers. At fir^ the 
multitude tried to get in, but were kept back by a 
company of a thousand Roman soldiers who soon 
surrounded the building. Arrayed in rank and file, 
they ^ood there mocking and laughing, and thus 
encouraging the torturers, as spectators would en- 
courage adlors, to do their utmo^ in making Jesus 
suffer. 

They had trundled the base of an old column to 
the middle of the court. In the center of this base 
there was a hole, wherein probably the column once 
had re^ed. Upon this they fa^ened a round foot- 
^ool, which had a handle behind to grip it by, and 
maliciously brewed the seat with sharp-pointed ^ones 
and pieces of crockery. 

Again they tore away all that covered His torn 
and mangled body, and threw on Him a soldier's 
' cloak, old, red-colored, tattered, cmd so short that it 
did not even reach His knees. The shreds of 
what had once been yellow teissels ^11 clung in places 

233 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



to the old cloak. It was kept in the hangman's office 
purposely for criminals after scourging, either to ab- 
sorb the blood from their bodies or to dress them out 
for mockery. And now they dragged Jesus to the 
stool, and brought His wounded body heavily down 
upon its layer of sharp ^ones and potsherds. Here- 
upon they proceeded to crown Him with thorns. 

This crown was about six inches high, densely 
intertwined, and with a proje<5ting border on top. 
They wrapped it like a bandage round His forehead, 
and tied it tight behind His head so that it formed a 
crownlike hat of thorns. It w£is composed of three 
thorny shrubs, each as thick as a finger. They were 
^rong young shoots fresh from the thicket, and the 
thorns on them had nearly all been purposely bent in- 
wards. The thorns were of three kinds, corresponding 
to our buckthorns, blackthorns and hawthorns. The 
branch which composed the border on top, by which 
they grasped and jerked the crown, was taken from a 
bush something like our blackberry bushes. — I saw 
the place where the fellows went to get the thorns. 

Hereupon they pressed into His hand a thick 
reed-cane with a bushy top. All this was done with 
derisive solemnity, ju^ as if they were really crowning 
Him king. They took the cane from His hand, and 
^ruck it violently down upon the crown, so that His 
blood welled up into His eyes. They bent the knee 
before Him, Wretched out their tongues again^ Him, 
spat in His face, ^ruck Him, shouting in the mean- 
time : "All hail. King of the Jews !" They knocked 
over the ^ool, and Him with it, then set it aright and 
forced Him upon it again, guffawing derisively mean- 
234 



Ecce Homo! Behold the Man! 



while. Alas, I cannot repeat all the vile-minded tricks 
invented by these wretches to mock Our Lord. He 
had such an awful thir^!* His brutal laceration at 
the column had brought on a wound-fever. He was all 
a-tremble, His sides were here and there torn open to 
the ribs, His tongue convulsively shrunken and con- 
tracJled, and His only alleviation was the down-drip- 
ping blood from His sacred head, which flowed 
mercifully into the scorching heat of His mouth kept 
open by gasping exhau^ion. But those fearful 
wretches made His holy mouth a mark for their 
sickening spittle. Thus the scene went on for about 
half an hour, while the rank and file of the cohort 
that had surrounded the guard-house ^ood there with 
loud-shouting laughter and applause. 

Ecce Homo! Behold the Man! 

The thorn-crown on His head, the reed-scepter in 
His manacled hands, and clothed in the scarlet rag, 
Jesus was led again into Pilate's palace. Blood filled 
His eyes, Gained His mouth, clogged His beard and 
made Him unrecognizable. He reeled painfully 

* During the night when she had this vision, Sifter Emmerich, 
moved with compassion, desired to thir^ with her Savior. Here- 
upon she fell into a violent fever, and suffered such burning thiril, 
that the next morning found her unable to speak — her tongue 
dry, ^ff, blue-colored, and drawn back into the larynx, and her 
lips shrivelled and withered. When the writer saw her in the 
morning she seemed to be near death, so pale and feeble and un- 
conscious. With difficulty a little water was gotten down her 
throat, and after quite a long re^ she was able, though with great 
effort to make the above communication. The woman who had 
watched over her said that during the night she had often writhed 
and moaned on her couch. 

235 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



along, His whole body one mass of Gripes 2ind wounds, 
looking like a blood-soaked piece of cloth. The 
wretched mantle was so short that He bent forwards 
to let it cover Him better. All His other clothing had 
been torn frdm Him. 

When He reached the foot of the ^airs, even the 
cruel heart of Pilate felt a shudder of loathing com- 
passion. Leaning on one of his officers, while the 
populace and the prie^s continued their howling 
mockeries, he cried out : "If the Jews have a devil 
as cruel as themselves, it mu^ be impossible to live 
in their Hell !" When Jesus had been painfully 
dragged upitairs and taken His position in the back- 
ground, Pilate went to the front of the terrace. A 
trumpet-bla^ was blown as signal for silence, and 
Pilate said to the high prie^s and the assembled 
multitude : "Behold, I will have him led out before 
you, that you may know I find no fault in him." 

The hangmen now led Jesus forwards till He ^ood 
beside Pilate where the entire assembly on the forum 
could see Him. Oh fecurful, soul-crushing spectacle ! 
A moment of dead silence and shuddering horror 
settled down on that wild multitude under the eyes 
of that blood-bathed, thorn-crowned Son of God, as 
Pilate pointed to Him and cried : "Behold the Man !" 

Ju^ at this moment — while with lacerated body 
and thorn-pierced head Jesus ^ood before Pilate's 
palace, ^ill bearing the mock-scepter and clutching 
with manacled hands the folds of the red rag, bowed 
down in infinite sorrow and mildness, crushed by 
sufferings and love, exposed like some bloody shadow 
to the rage of prie^ and people — ju^ at this moment 
236 



Ecce Homo ! Behold the Man ! 



companies of servants and handmaidens, their gar- 
ments girded for work, were passing across the forum 
on their way to assi^ in washing the Ea^er leimbs, 
while from the pool whither they were going came 
the soft bleating of the innocent vid:ims to mingle 
with the wild echoes of that mad multitude and give 
te^imony to the silent figure of Truth that ^ood 
there above. Truly, the unknown and unknowable 
my^ery of Ea^er mu^ be near its consummation: 
Here is One Lamb that fulfils the prophecies, that 
opens not its mouth but goeth in silence to slaughter. 

The hesitation la^ed but a moment. The sight 
of Jesus was for the high prices and their helpers a 
maddening mirror of their own conscience, and the 
old cry reechoed ^ill louder : "Away with him, crucify 
him!" Pilate shouted back: "Not yet satisfied? 
Think you one treated like him will ^ill want to be 
king?" But they went mad with rage, and the 
multitude was one seething mass of roaring frenzy : 
"Away with him ! Crucify him !" Again the trumpet 
blew, and Pilate said: "Take him yourselves and 
crucify him, for I find no fault in him." "We have a 
law," some of the high priests shouted back, "we have 
a law and according to this law he mu^ die, because 
he has made himself Son of God." "If your laws 
demand this man's death," retorted Pilate, "the gods be 
thanked I am no Jew." 

But the word *Son of God' tormented Pilate and 
roused again all his super^itious fears. He let Jesus 
be brought where the two were alone and £isked Him : 
"Whence art thou?" Jesus gave him no answer. 
Pilate went on : "Do^ thou not answer me ? Know- 

237 



The Passion of Jesus Chriil. 



eit thou not that I have power to crucify thee and 
power to release thee?" Jesus answered: "Thou 
should^ not have any power over Me were it not 
given thee hrom above. Therefore he that betrayed 
Me to thee hath the greater sin." 

Claudia Procles, full of anxiety at the hesitating 
policy pursued by her husband, again sent him the 
token he had given her as a reminder of his promise. 
The answer he sent back to her was confused and 
super^itious. All I remember of it is some mention 
of his gods. 

But the high prices and Pharisees had been in- 
formed that Pilate's wife was pleading for Jesus, and 
were now scattering among the multitude this rumor : 
"The followers of Jesus have bribed the wife of the 
governor. If Jesus goes free, he will unite with the 
Romans, and we all shall perish." 

Pilate knew not what to do. His cowardly in- 
decision seemed to make his thoughts drunk, and they 
tumbled back and forth between yes and no. Again 
he addressed the Jews, saying he could find no guilt 
in Jesus, but the only effedl he produced was ^ill 
more violent demands for His death. But his own 
whirling thoughts, his wife's dreams, and Our Lord's 
impressive answers ^ill kept him from yielding. 
Determined to get some answer that would show him 
a way out of his painful situation, he went back to the 
chamber of ju^ice where he was alone with his 
prisoner. He gazed searchingly, yet almo^ trembling- 
ly, at the frightful, blood-itained figure before him, and 
said hesitatingly to himself : "Is it possible he is really 
a God?" Then suddenly he broke into an oath, ad- 
238 



Ecce Homo I Behold the Man ! 

juring Jesus to say : Was he a god and no man? Was 
he that expedted King? How far his kingdom ex- 
tended? What rank did he have among the gods? 
Let him speak out plainly, Pilate would surely re- 
lease him. 

Of the answer of Jesus I can give only the con- 
tents, not the words. He spoke with awful earne^- 
ness. He showed Pilate what kind of a king He 
was, what kingdom He was to rule. By telling Pilate 
the truth He showed that He was ruler in the kingdom 
of truth. He lay open before Pilate the abominations 
that lay hidden in his soul, foretold to him the fate 
that was awaiting him, his banishment and ruin, his 
unhappy and shameful death, and finally revealed 
His own future coming, to pass true judgment on His 
judge. 

Half-indignant at these words, yet half-terrified, 
Pilate went out on the terrace and cried out that he 
was going to release Jesus. But he was met by the 
cry: "If thou released him, thou art no friend to 
Caesar. He that maketh himself king, is an enemy of 
Caesar." Others shouted that they would accuse 
him to the emperor of di^urbing their Fe^ival, let 
him make ha^e; they would have to undergo severe 
penalties unless they were in the Temple by ten 
o*clock. And once again the fearful cry began to 
roar and swell : "Crucify him ! Away with him !" In 
all quarters the crowds were growing ever more 
frenzied, some of them had climbed upon the flat 
roofs round the forum, and from there were shouting 
down their threat. 

Pilate saw that with that mad multitude it was 

239 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



useless to reason. Their roaring, raving frenzy Wcis 
something fearhil to behold. Rebellion in mo^ vio- 
lent form would surely follow his refusal to yield. He 
had water brought to him, a servant poured it over 
his hands in sight of all the people, and down from 
the terrace came Pilate's words : "I am innocent of 
the blood of this ju^ man, look you to it." And back 
from the crowded forum, covered with Jews from all 
parts of Pale^ine, came the dreadful, blood-curdling 
cry ; "His blood be upon us and upon our children!" 

Jesus Condemned to Death. 

In His red rag of mockery, His crown of thorns, 
and with manacled hands, Jesus was led by the hang- 
men and soldiers out through the deriding mob till 
he ^ood between the two murderers in front of 
Pilate's tribunal. Pilate sat down on his judgment- 
seat, and said loudly to the enemies of Jesus : "Behold 
your king !" "Away with him ! Crucify him !" was 
the only answer. "Shall I crucify your king?" con- 
tinued Pilate. And the high prie^s shouted : "We 
have no king but Caesar 1" Pilate spoke not another 
word for Jesus or with Him, and prepared to pro- 
nounce sentence of death. 

The two malefadlors had been condemned to the 
cross for some time. Their execution had at the 
reque^ of the high prie^ been deferred till today. 
They thought to degrade Him ^ill more by crucifying 
Him with common murderers. Near the two robbers 
lay their crosses, dragged there by the helpers of the 
crucifiers. Our Lord's cross was not yet on the spot, 
240 



Jesus Condemned to Death. 



probably because His sentence was not yet pro- 
nounced. 

After seeing Jesus publicly exhibited by Pilate, 
and hearing the multitude call down upon itself that 
dreadful curse of blood, Our Lady for a little while 
left the forum. But now she returned, and sur- 
rounded by several holy women, pressed her way 
through the crowd till she wcis again near her Son 
and God, who ilood, surrounded by hangmen and 
glared at by the Jews, at the foot of the ^airs 
awciiting sentence. And now the trumpet sounded, 
and the angry coward on the judgment-seat pro- 
nounced sentence of death on Jesus. 

His bcise-mindedness and deceit crushed me 
completely. The sight of that self-swollen scoundrel, 
the blood-thirily triumph of the panting, but now 
satisfied high prices, the deep pain and anguish of 
Our poor Savior, the unspeakable sufferings of the 
compassionate Mother and the holy women, the 
lowering, scowling, suspicious eyes of the Jews, the 
cold proud bearing of the soldiers, and the horrible 
devil-shapes among the multitude — all this had anni- 
hilated me completely. Alas, if only I itood there 
in^ead of my Bridegroom, then were the sentence 
ju^. — I was so overcome with suffering that I cannot 
recall exadlly the order of succession in what followed. 
What I do remember I will tell as well as I can. 

Fir^ of cJl Pilate held a loud-mouthed speech, 
using some high-sounding word for Claudius Tiberius 
as emperor. Then he proclaimed the charges again^ 
Jesus : A seducer, a disturber of the peace, a trans- 
gressor of the Jewish law since he let himself be 

241 

i6 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



called *Son of God' and *King of the Jews/ On the 
basis of these charges, so Pilate continued, the high 
prie^ had judged Jesus worthy of death and the 
multitude had unanimously demanded his execution. 
But when Pilate now went on to proclaim that he 
found the judgment passed by the high prie^s to be 
right and ju^, he, who during these la^ long hours 
had so often declared that Jesus was guiltless and 
innocent — sight and hearing refused to believe that 
the man could be such a shameless, double-tongued 
scoundrel. He added : "Therefore I condemn Jesus 
of Nazareth, King of the Jews, to be crucified." Then 
he ordered the cross to be brought, and I seem to 
remember that he took a long ^aff with but little pith 
within, broke it asunder, and threw it at the feet of 
Jesus. 

The Mother of Jesus. 
On hearing the words of condemnation. Our 
Lady sank down unconscious, as if ^ruck to death. 
The blow had fallen. Her Son, the holie^, moil 
beloved of sons, mu^ die — die a mo^ dreadful, ig- 
nominous death. John and the holy women brought 
her away, to keep the blind rabble from adding sin 
to sin by jeering at the Sorrowful Mother of their 
Redeemer. But Mary cannot keep away. She mu^ 
walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and her companions 
go with her from one sacred spot to another. Zeal 
and compassion drove her to perform this my^erious 
divine service, to pour out her tears as sacrifice over 
every spot where the Redeemer born of her had suf- 
fered for us His brethren. And the tears of the Mother 
took possession of these spots san<5tified by her Son 
242 



Jesus Condemned to Death. 



and pcissed them down to the Church, the Mother of 
us all — ju^ as Jacob set up a memorial and conse- 
crated with oil the ^one whereon he had received the 
promise. 

While Pilate was pronouncing the unjuit judg- 
ment I saw Claudia Procles send back his pledge and 
determine to leave him. That same evening I saw 
her secretly leave his palace and flee to the friends 
of Jesus, who concealed her for a while in a vault 
under the house of Leizaurus. Later on she became a 
Chri^ian, sought out St. Paul, and became his close 
friend. 

Now that sentence of death was pronounced, and 
Pilate was quarreling with the prieils about the written 
documents, Jesus was left to the mercy of the execu- 
tioners who until now had been somewhat held in 
check by respedl for the court. His garments which 
had been torn from Him in the hall of Caiphas the 
night before were now brought to Him again. I think 
some compassionate soul mu^ have washed them, for 
they were now clean. I believe, too, *twas cu^om 
among the Romans to reclothe the condemned be- 
fore leading them forth to execution. So these impu- 
dent fellows again ^pped Our Lord, and unbound 
His hands, so He could get into His garments. And 
so rough were they in tearing off the old red mantle 
of mockery that they ripped open many of his wounds. 
He put on the loin-cloth Himself, and they threw His 
woolen scapular round His neck. The long, brown, 
seamless robe woven by His Mother could not be 
brought down over the broad crown of thorns, so they 
tore the latter from His head, whereat all His reopened 

243 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



wounds shed blood, and He suffered unspeakable 
agony. Over the seamless robe they put on His 
white, woolen, wide-flowing garment. His broad belt, 
and finally His mantle. Hereupon they bound round 
His wai^ the second belt to which were attached the 
cords they used to lead Him. During all this time 
they ceeised not to pursue Him with blows and pushes 
and other shuddering barbarities. 

Near Jesus, one on the right, the other on the 
left, ^ood the two thieves. Like Him they wore 
round their necks the chain of accusation. Their 
clothing consisted of three pieces: a loin-cloth, a 
scapular-like jacket, of poor material, open at the 
sides, and without sleeves, and finally a ^raw-woven 
cap buffed something like the padded caps of chil- 
dren. They were of a dirty brown color, ^ill covered 
with Gripes from the scourging they had received. 
The thief who was going to be converted was even 
now quiet and recollected, while the other showed his 
rage and insolence by aiding the executioners to curse 
and mock Jesus, who looked upon them both with 
love and longing, and also for them offered His life. 

The executioners were gathering their in^ruments 
together, and all concerned were getting ready for 
the procession of all processions mo^ sad and cruel — 
in which the loving Redeemer was to bear the burden 
of our sins in His own body, and then to pour out 
through the channels of His lacerated body, as through 
a perforated chalice, the blood that would redeem 
even the unpardonable wretches who transfixed Him. 

Annas and Caiphas had at length concluded 
their quarrelsome agreement with Pilate, and now on 
244 



Jesus Condemned to Death. 



receiving a few long narrow strips of written parch- 
ment hurried to the Temple. They could ju^ get 
there in time. Thus the high prieils separated from 
the true Ea^er Lamb. They hurried away to a tem- 
ple of ^one, there to sacrifice and eat the symbolic 
figure of a Reality which they delivered up to be led 
by abominable executioners to the altar of the Cross. 
From Pilate's court two ways branched out. One led 
to a sacrifice beneath a veil on the Mount, the other 
to a sacrifice already completed in the Temple. On 
the one the Lamb of God, pure and purifying, yet 
defiled with all the filthy abominations of cruelty, was 
toiling upwards to the eternal Altar, on the other 
unclean high prie^s were ha^ening to sacrifice a 
lamb that had been cleansed, and washed, and 
blessed, but had now lo^ all meaning. Scrupulously 
they had shunned outward defilement, but the seeth- 
ing wickedness of their souls had boiled over in rage 
and envy and derision, and had besplashed them 
with iniquity. "His blood be upon us and upon our 
children." With those words they had completed the 
ceremonies, had laid the hand of the sacrificer upon 
the head of the vi<ilim. 

And from the spot where the two roads parted, 
one to the altar of the law, one to the altar of grace, 
Pilate, the proud and vacillating judge, the lover of 
the world and slave of death, who trembled before 
God yet bowed before idols, who to reign in time 
sacrificed eternity — Pilate gave the sign, and, pre- 
ceded by his trumpeter and surrounded by his 
guards, passed between the two roads to his palace. — 
Twas about 10 o'clock in the morning. 

245 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary. 

When Pilate left the judgment-seat, some of the 
soldiers followed him and formed into line in front of 
the palace, ready to march out, while only a small 
band ^ayed with those condemned. Eight and twen- 
ty armed Pharisees, among them the six furious 
agents who had been present on Mount Olivet, now 
came riding towards the forum to accompany the 
procession. The executioners led Jesus to the center 
of the forum. From the we^ entered several slaves 
carrying the cross of wood, which with crashing noise 
they threw down at the Savior's feet. 

Jesus ca^ Himself on His knees beside the Cross, 
put His arms around it, and kissed it three times, 
meanwhile whispering softly a prayer of thanks to 
His Heavenly Father for the redemption of men that 
was now beginning. As pagan prie^s embrace a 
new-built altar, so Our Lord embraced His Cross the 
eternal altar, on which was to be poured out the 
propitiatory blood of sacrifice. But the executioners 
jerked Him to an upright kneeling position, and 
forced Him, with but little aid and that cruelly given, 
to take the heavy beam on His right shoulder and 
hold it there with His right arm. I saw invisible 
angels help Him, otherwise He could not have taken 
up the burden. 

While He thus knelt in prayer, bowed down 
beneath His Cross, other executioners laid across the 
necks of the two thieves the cross-beams of their 
crosses, then bent their arms upwards and fa^ened 
them to these cross-beams. These cross-beams were 
246 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary. 



not quite ^raight, but somewhat bent, and so pre- 
pared that, when the time for crucifixion came, they 
could be joined to the upper end of the main beams, 
which, along with other materials and implements, 
were carried behind the thieves by slaves. — From 
Pilate's cavalry came the trumpet signal for depart- 
ure, and one of the Pharisees on horseback ap- 
proached Jesus, who ^ill knelt under His burden, and 
said : "Ended are His grand speeches, let us ha^en 
to get rid of Him ! Be up and on !" They jerked Him 
to His feet, and down upon Him sank that heavy 
burden of the Cross, that burden which His words 
eternally true have told us we mu^ carry after Him. 
And thus was set in motion that procession of the 
King of kings, on earth of all processions the mo^ 
painful and ignominious, in Heaven the mo^ glori- 
ous and blissful. 

Two executioners walked behind Our Savior, 
each holding a rope that was attached to the foot of 
the long beam, thus preventing the Cross from drag- 
ging on the ground. Encircling Jesus at some dis- 
tance were four other executioners, likewise holding 
four ropes attached to the belt they had tied round 
His wai^. His mantle was folded together and 
wound round the upper part of His body. — With the 
wood of the Cross thus bound on His shoulders Jesus 
reminded me Wrongly of Isaac who Ceirried up the 
mountain the wood for His own sacrifice. 

Pilate's trumpet now signalled for the procession 
to get forwards out of his way, as he was riding out 
at the head of a band of soldiers to prevent any 
di^rbance from arising in the city. He was sur- 

247 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§t. 



rounded by his officers and a company of horsemen, 
and followed by a division of about three hundred 
foot-soldiers, whose home was on the frontiers of 
Italy and Switzerland. 

At the head of the procession was a trumpeter 
who at every ^reet corner blew upon his trumpet to 
proclaim the execution. A few paces behind him 
followed a rabble, composed principally of boys 
carrying liquors, ropes, nails, wedges and tool-boxes 
of all kinds. Next came able-bodied servants carry- 
ing poles and ladders and the main beams of the 
crosses for the two thieves. The ladders themselves 
were nothing but poles pierced with pegs. Next 
came some Pharisees on horseback, and then a young 
lad who carried before his brea^ the inscription 
prepared by Pilate to be affixed to the Cross, and on 
a pole over his shoulder the crown of thorns, which it 
seemed impossible for Our Lord to wear while bearing 
His Cross. This lad was not very wicked. 

Our Savior beneath the Cross. 
And now came Our Savior: On bare and 
wounded feet, bowed down and daggering beneath 
that heavy burden, scourged and broken and worn, 
since the La^ Supper without meat or drink or sleep, 
constantly maltreated unto death, exhau^ed from 
loss of blood, from wounds and fever and thir^, from 
the unspeakable horrors which harrowed His soul 
with sorrow find compassion. His right arm was 
thrown round the heavy burden that weighed down 
His right shoulder. His left hand often reached pain- 
fully down to lift the wide-folded garment from 
248 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary. | 

beneath His wavering ^eps. Fcur out from Him ^ood ] 
the four executioners holding the ropes that were ; 
fa^ened to His belt. The two in front jerked Him ; 
onweirds, the two behind drove Him. Thus he could | 
make no sure ^ep, and the jerking ropes never let j 
Him succeed in lifting His garment. \ 

From former violent con^ridlion His hands were \ 
wounded and swollen, His face was covered with 
blood and swelling Gripes, His hair and beard were 
torn and dishevelled and clogged with blood. The 
burden on His shoulder, and the fetters round His i 
wai^, pressed His heavy woolen clothing into His j 
lacerated body, and made it ^ick fa^ to His new- i 
opening blood-moi^ened wounds. Enveloped in a \ 
cloud of scorn and malice, He was a pidlure un speak- l 
ably pitiful and yet unspeakably lovable — His lips ^ 
moving in prayer. His eyes shining with mercy, for- ] 
giveness and sorrow. — His pain and labor were in- i 
creased by the continual shifting of position in the ^ 
heavy weight on his shoulders, caused by the jerks i 
upward and downward of the ropes in the hands of 
the two executioners behind Him. 

The procession advanced along a narrow alley, ' 
between the rear ends of the houses on either side. i 
This route was chosen in order to make room for the 
people on their way to the Temple as well as to avoid 
putting any ob^acle in Pilate's road. 

At fir^ this alley was but a few paces wide, and 
ob^trudled by heaps of dirt and rubbish from the 
houses that flanked it. Jesus had much to endure 
along here. First of all the executioners had to be { 
closer to him. Then out from the houses and through 

249 ] 



I 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



holes in the walls He was derided by slaves and 
vagabonds who carried on business there. Malicious 
scoundrels among them heaped dung and refuse 
upon Him, or emptied dirty linking liquids on His 
head, while even little children, encouraged by their 
elders, skipped out hrom the houses and in through 
the procession, scattering before Our Lord's feet the 
^ones they had gathered in their pinafores, cursing the 
meanwhile and blaspheming. Thus was Jesus treated 
by the little ones whom it had been His delight to 
love and bless. 

Jesus Falls the First Time. 
After some di^ance this narrow ^reet turns to 
the left, becomes broader, and begins to rise. It is 
crossed at this point by an underground aquedud: 
that comes from Mount Sion, and flows, I think, along 
the forum, beneath which are some vaulted water- 
courses, to the pool near the Probatica gate. I heard 
the water gurgle and trickle in the pipes. Where the 
road begins to rise there is a depression, which in 
rainy weather often fills with water and mud, and 
which, like many other places in the often rough 
^eets of Jerusalem, is made passable by an elevated 
^one. 

On reaching this spot Our poor Lord was unable 
to go further, and as, notwith^anding, the execu- 
tioners jerked Him mercilessly about. He tumbled 
over the projecting ^one and lay Wretched out at full 
length on the ground, while the Cross fell over to one 
side. They cursed, and jerked, £ind ^ruck, and 
kicked, the procession came to a ^and^ill, and a 
250 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary, 



tumult began to rise. In vain He held out a hand 
for someone to help Him up. "Alas!" He said, 
"Soon 'twill be at an end." But the Pharisees 
shouted : "Get up ! Drive him up ! Don't let him 
die on your hands !" 

Here and there along the road groups of women 
and children were seen weeping and lamenting. 
Supernaturally ^rengthened Jesus again raised His 
head, and with devilish cruelty those fearful wretches, 
in^ead of easing His burden, put on Him once more 
the crown of thorns. When they had barbarously 
gotten Him to His feet, they again hoiked the Cross 
on His shoulders, thus compelling Him to bend 
at the co^ of fearful pain His thorn-crowned head 
entirely to one side in order to make room on His 
shoulder for the broad beam of the Cross. Thus in 
growing agony He tottered on up the broadening 
and rising path. 

The Cross-bearing Jesus and His Mother. 
Jesus Falls the Second Time. 

The pain-pierced Mother had left the forum after 
the unju^ death-sentence had been pronounced over 
her Child. That was about an hour ago, and in the 
meantime, accompanied by John and some of the 
women, she had been again visiting a number of 
places consecrated by the sufferings of her Son. 
But now the ha^ening crowds, the bla^ of the 
trumpet, the passing of Pilate and his band, all 
announced that Jesus was beginning the Way of the 
Cross, and she could bear separation no longer. She 

251 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



mu^ see her Dear One again and asked John to lead 
her to a spot where Jesus would pass. 

When I saw her enter at the gate of a palace 
along the route, saw her face pale and worn, her eyes 
red with weeping, her frame trembling and quivering, 
I felt my soul torn asunder with dreadful horror. 
Across the houses came the noisy hue and cry of the 
on-coming procession, and at every corner the trumpet 
resounded and a herald proclaimed that some one 
was being led out for execution. A servant opened 
the palace-gate and the noise grew louder. Mary 
had been praying, and now spoke to John : "Ought 
I to look upon the scene? Ought I to flee from the 
spot? Oh, how will I ever bear it?" "If thou did^ 
not remain" replied John, "thou would^ ever after 
regret it bitterly." They Pepped out beneath the 
gate, and she ^ood ^ill, gazing to the right down the 
road which gradually rose and came to a level at the 
spot where she waited. O God, how that trumpet- 
bla^ cuts through her heart ! The procession is about 
eighty paces di^ant. It is not juil now preceded by a 
crowd. At both sides and behind are some scattered 
bands, but the great mob, which had been the la^ to 
leave the forum, is now rushing confusedly through 
by-ways and alleys in order to reach vantage-po^s for 
watching the procession as it passes. 

When the band of executioners drew near, carry- 
ing their implements of torture, and shouting in 
insolent triumph, Our Lady trembled ilill more, and 
began to lament and wring her hands. One of the 
wretched fellows asked some by^anders : "Who is 
that woman there carrying on so dreadfully?" And 
252 



Jesus Carries His Cross io Calvary, 

one of them answered : "That is the Mother of the 
Galilean." On hearing this the executioners began 
to mock and deride the lamenting Mother, pointed 
the finger of scorn at her, and one of the more vile 
minded seized the nails of crucifixion in his fi^ and 
flouted them mockingly in her face. But Our Lady, 
with twitching hands, kept looking for Jesus. Over- 
whelmed with sorrow she leaned for support againit 
the pillar that supported the gate. Her lips were 
blue, her face pale as the face of the dead. The 
Pharisees ride by, next comes the boy with the in- 
scripition, then, a few paces behind him, O God ! her 
Son, the Son of God, the Holy One, the Redeemer ! 
Jerked onwards by the executioners, His face pale 
and bloody and broken. His beard clotted and pointed 
by blood; tottering, weighed down, ^ruggling pain- 
fully to keep His thorn-crowned head turned away 
from the heavy Cross on His shoulder : is that her 
Jesus ? And while those blood-moi^ened, deep-sunk- 
en eyes gazed so earne^ly and compassionately out 
under those fearful winding thorns at His sorrow- 
^ricken Mother, His sT:rength again collapsed under 
His burden and He sank for the second time on hands 
and knees down to the ground. 

Under the blind rush of pain and love the Mother 
no longer saw soldier or executioner; saw nothing but 
her Son, her agonizing Boy. In a moment she had 
flung herself in between His jerking, pulling captors 
and was kneeling beside Him, her arms thrown round 
His helpless prostrate Figure. I heard, whether 
spoken by the lips or the soul I know not, the two 
words: "My Son!" "My Mother!" 

253 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



But cin uproar ensued. The executioners began 
to curse and mock, one of them saying : "Woman, 
what willA thou here? Had^ thou reared Him better 
he would not now be in our hands." But in many 
soldiers I felt some emotion of pity. They drove her 
away, and she sank, as if dead with pain, down on 
her knees on a comer-^one between the gate and the 
wall. 

She turned her back to the procession, and her 
hands came in contadt with the upper part of the 
slanting, green-beaked ^one again^ which she had 
fallen. Her knees left shallow depressions in the 
^one, her hands left marks ^ill more flat and hollow. 
These impressions were faint and dull, like those made 
by biking a piece of dough. The ^one was very 
hard. I saw how during the episcopate of James the 
Less it Ceune into the fir^ Catholic Church, the church 
at the Pool of Bethsaida. I have already said, and I 
repeat the remark here, that on great and solemn 
occasions I have often seen such impressions indented 
by a holy touch into ilone. These indentures are 
the basis for the truth of the words : "A ^one would 
have to feel compassion at this." Or: "That makes 
an impression." Eternal wisdom did not have to 
wait for the printing-press in order to transmit to 
posterity te^imonies of its holy mercies. 

Pressed upon by the lance-bearing soldiers who 
walked at the sides of the procession, the two disciples 
who were now with Our Lady brought her inside the 
gate which was then closed. Here and there among 
the deriding rabble I saw the veiled, unreadily-mov- 
ing figures of weeping women. 
254 



Jesas Carries His Cross to Calvary. 



Simon of Cyrene. 
Jesus Falls the Third Time. 

Advancing along this broader ^reet the proces- 
sion came to an archway beneath one of the inner 
walls of the city. Ju^ in front of this archway is a 
large open place, where three Greets merge together. 
Here Our Lord had again to surmount a ^one ^ep, 
and again He tottered and sank mo^ pitifully to the 
ground, supporting Himself somewhat upon the ^one, 
while the Cross fell down beside Him. Crowds of 
well-dressed people now came by on their way to the 
Temple, and seeing Him lie there unable to rise they 
cried out compassionately : "Alas ! The poor man is 
dying." Uproar and confusion now prevailed, and 
the Pharisees at the head of the procession said to 
the soldiers : "We won't get him there alive in this 
way, you'll have to find someone to help him carry 
the cross." Ju^ at this moment a pagan, named 
Simon of Cyrene, was coming down the mo^ central 
of the three Greets, his three little sons with him. He 
was a gardener, and was returning from work in the 
gardens that lie next the ea^ern wall of the city. Like 
so many workmen of his kind he came every year at 
this season to Jerusalem in order to trim the garden 
hedges. The ^reet was so packed he could not 
escape, and the soldiers, recognizing him by his 
clothing as a pagan and a laborer, seized him and 
dragged him to where Jesus lay, ordering him to 
help the Galilean carry His Cross. He attempted to 
refuse, and showed great reludlance, but they com- 
pelled him by violence. 

His little boys cried and lamented, and some 

255 



The Passion of Jesus ChrM. 



women who knew him took them in charge. Simon 
felt deep nausea and disgu^ at sight of the fearfully 
disfigured frame and filth bedraggled garments of the 
prisoner, who through His tears looked out at him so 
pitifully. Simon helped Him to rise, the executioners 
bound one end of the main cross-beam farther back and 
fa^ened it a by knot to Simon's shoulder. He walked 
right behind Jesus who thus no longer had to bear 
such a heavy burden. They gave the crown of thorns 
a different arrangement, and the procession again got 
under way. Simon, a robu^ man of forty years, went 
bare-headed and wore a short close-fitting upper-gar- 
ment, while his boys wore gay-colored jackets. Later 
on, the two older boys, named Rufus and Alexander, 
joined Our Lord's disciples, and I saw the younge^, 
^ill a child, living under the care of Stephen. Simon 
had not helped Our Lord very far along when he 
began to feel deep emotion. 

Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus. 

Simon had assi^ed Jesus about two hundred 
paces along when from a beautiful house on the left 
side of the ^reet a woman of imposing figure, holding 
a little girl by the hand flung herself towards the 
procession. It is Seraphia who by the ad:ion she is 
ju^ going to perform will from now on be called 
Veronica. * ( Vera means *true,' ikon means 'image.') 

Seraphia had prepared at home a vessel of co^ly 

*During the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which 
we celebrate on Palm Sunday I had seen Seraphia, who ^ood 
with other women and carried a child on her arm, take the veil 
from her head and spread it on the ground in joyful reverence 
for Our Lord. This same piece of cloth she was now bringing to 
256 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary, 

aromatic wine, piously resolved to ofier Our Lord a 
refreshing draught on His way to death. In painful 
suspense she had once already hurried forth to meet 
the procession, and I had seen her, with her face 
veiled and leading her little adopted girl by the hand, 
hastening alongside the procession ju^ when Jesus 
met His holy Mother. But the ensuing tumult gave 
her no opportunity to satisfy her holy desire, so she 
hurried back home to await Our Lord there. 

Her face ^ill veiled, and a cloth hanging down 
from her shoulder, she now Pepped out into the 
^reet. The little girl, about nine years old, ^ood 
close to her, keeping the vessel of wine hidden behind 
some overhanging projection. Those foremo^ in the 
procession tried in vain to repulse her, she was beside 
herself with love and compassion, and, with the child 
who now clung to her garment, she forced her way 
through the draggling rabble on the outskirts, through 
the soldiers and executioners in the center, Pepped 
in front of Our Lord, held up to Him the outspread 
cloth, and cried out so fervently : "Permit me, I beg 
Thee, to wipe the face of my Lord." Our Lord took 
the cloth with His left hand, pressed it to His bleeding 
face, then carried it towards His right hand which 
curved in over the beam of the Cross, pressed both 
His hands againit it, and gave it back to her with 
thanks. She pressed her lips to it, and concealed it 
under her mantle, so that it lay upon her heart. As 

Our Savior on His second march of triumph, more sad but 
also more glorious than the fir^l. This same blessed piece of 
cloth vras defined to drink in the marks of His Passion, to give 
its compassionate owner the victorious name of 'Veronica,' and 
to receive the public veneration of the Church. 

257 

*i7 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 



she rose to her feet, the little maid timidly raised the 
vessel of wine up towards her, but the cursing soldiers 
and executioners did not allow her to give Jesus this 
refreshment. Twas only the surprising suddenness 
of her brave deed that caused a ^and-^ill of scarcely 
two minutes, which enabled her to offer the veil to 
Jesus. The Pharisees on horseback and the execu- 
tioners, furious at the delay and ^ill more so at this 
public adl of veneration for Our Lord, began to ^rike 
Him and jerk Him and Veronica fled with the child 
into the house. 

No sooner had she reentered her room and 
spread the veil on the table, than she sank down 
unconscious, while the little maid, still holding the 
vessel of wine, knelt down beside her and v/himpered. 
A friend who entered found her thus, lying like one 
dead beside the table, whereon he saw the outspread 
veil with the features of Our Savior impressed upon 
it, fearful to behold yet wonderfully clear and di^indt. 
He was horrified, brought her back to consciousness, 
and pointed to the Face of Our Lord. With mingled 
feelings of sorrow and consolation, she knelt down 
before the veil, and cried out: "Now 1 will leave every- 
thing for the Lord who has left me this memorial." 

This piece of cloth was a ^rip of fine wool, about 
three times longer than it was wide. W omen gener- 
ally wore one round the neck, and sometimes a 
second one down over the shoulder. It was a sign of 
sorrow and compassion, and when going to meet those 
who were sad, or weary, or exhausted, or sick, or 
weeping, it was cu^omary to use it to cleanse and 
dry their faces. People were accu^omed, too, in 
258 



Jesus Carries His Cross to Calvary. 



regions where the climate was hot to send such veils 
to one another as presents. Ever afterwards 
Veronica kept this veil hanging over her couch. After 
her death holy women presented it to Our Lady, 
through whom it came into the possession of the 
Apo^les and the Church. 

The Weeping Daughters of Jerusalem. 
Fourth and Fifth Fall under the Cross. 

When the procession came near the gate in the 
outer wall of the city the executioners became more 
violent. Just in front of the gate a big mud puddle 
had been formed in the rough deep-rutted road. The 
line of march grew denser, Simon of Cyrene Pepped 
to one side to gain a better foothold, thus giving the 
Cross a twiil, and Jesus succumbed for the fourth 
time, falling so violently into the filthy puddle that 
Simon could hardly keep the Cross from falling upon 
Him. Our Lord's voice was broken yet loud as He 
lamented : "Alas, alas, O Jerusalem, 1 have loved thee 
as a hen gathering her chicks under her wing, and 
thou ca^e^ me so cruelly forth from thy gate !" 

Our Lord's suffering was pitiful to behold, but the 
Pharisees turned to Him with curses : "This peace- 
di^urber hasn't topped yet, li^en to the loose 
speeches he ^ill holds," etc. They ^ruck Him, and 
kicked Him, dragged Him out from the puddle and 
set Him again on His feet. Their barbarous cruelty 
fired Simon with bitter wrath, and he cried out : "Un- 
less you ^op this brutal condudt, I will throw down 
the Cross, even though you kill me." 

259 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



Ju^ outside the gate, where a northwe^eriy road 
branches off to Mount Calvary, a ^ake ^ood planted 
in the middle of the main road running we^ through 
the country, and on the ^ake hung a tablet whereon 
were projedled a series of large white letters that 
procleiimed Our Lord's death warrant. Not far from 
the ^ake, at the corner between the two roads ^ood 
a large company of weeping and lamenting women. 
Some of them were maidens, some of them women 
with children, who had hurried out from Jerusalem 
.ahead of the procession, others were on their way to 
the Fe^ival from Bethlehem, Hebron, and other sur- 
rounding places, and had joined the waiting group of 
women from Jerusalem. 

On coming in front of them Jesus again fell, not 
indeed flat on the ground, yet like one unconscious. 
Lowering his end of the Cross to the ground, Simon 
came to uphold the sinking frame of the Savior, and 
Jesus turned so as to lean again^ Simon for support. 
This was His fifth fall beneath the cross. At sight of 
this awful spedtacle of suffering the women broke into 
loud cries of lamentation, and Wretched according to 
Jewish cuitom their veils out towards Him that He 
might dry His face from sweat. Jesus turned to them 
and said : "Ye daughters of Jerusalem" — this ex- 
pression included people from the daughter-cities of 
Jerusalem — "ye daughters of Jerusalem, weep not 
over Me, weep for yourselves and your children. For 
behold, the time will come when you will say : Tall 
upon us, ye mountains, and ye hills, cover us.' For 
if in the green wood they do these things, what shall 
be done in the dryi?" Other beautiful words, too, He 
260 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



spoke to them, which I have forgotten. One of them 
was : Their tecirs would be rewarded, from now on 
they would walk other paths, etc. 

Jesus on Mount Calvary 

His Sixth and Seventh Fall, and 
His Imprisonment. 

Again the procession got under way. Northward 
between the city and Mount Calvary ran a rough path, 
and up this Jesus under His Cross was half dragged, 
half driven. Towards the top, at a spot where the 
serpentine path winds round again to the south, Jesus 
for the sixth time fell heavily and painfully to the 
ground. More violently than ever He was driven to 
His feet, and on up the mountain to the rock of ex- 
ecution, where for the seventh time He fell beneath the 
Cross. 

Simon of Cjnrene, himself maltreated and exhaust- 
ed, felt his soul torn by anger and sympathy. He 
tried to help Jesus once more to His feet, but the ex- 
ecutioners drove him with blows and curses back down 
by the way he had come. Simon soon after joined 
the disciples. The boys and assistants who had march- 
ed along from the city, being now useless, were like- 
wise driven back. The Pharisees on horseback had 
ascended the mountain on the west side, where the 
winding paths were more comfortable. From the top 
here the eye can see over the walls of the city. 

Twas about a quarter to twelve when Jesus 
stepped into the enclosure for execution and fell be- 

261 



The Passion of Jesus ChriS., 



neath the Cross, while Simon was driven away. The 
executioners pulled at the ropes till He was again on 
His feet, untied the cords that bound the materials for 
the Cross, and laid the different pieces just as they 
came in a pile together. Alas, what an awful spectacle 
Jesus presented as He stood there preparing for execu- 
tion: The pale, torn and bloody, sad and suffering 
Man of Sorrows. Violently they threw Him down 
amid words of derision, as, for instance : "Down, O 
king ! We mu^ be sure thy throne will fit thee." 
Yet Our Lord was quite ready to lie down upon His 
Cross, and had His pitiable condition allowed Him to 
be quick. He would have been upon it before they 
threw Him. And now they proceeded to stretch His 
form out upon the Cross, and to mark off on it the 
points touched by His hands and feet — the Pharisees 
meanwhile continuing their mockeries. 

This done, they again dragged Him to His feet 
and led Him bound to a rock-hewn cavity, something 
like a cellar or ci^ern in shape, some seventy paces 
northv/ards down the mountain. They opened the 
door, and flung Him in so mercilessly that only for a 
miracle He had shattered His knees on the floor of 
stone. I heard His loud clear-sounding cry of pain. 
They closed the door above Him, set guards there, 
and returned. I had made the seventy paces with 
Him, and I seem to have seen, in some higher form 
of vision, how angel forms kept His knees from shat- 
tering. But how soul-lacerating were those sweet 
tones of lamentation! The very ^one yielded and 
softened at the touch of His sacred knees. 

And now began the preparations. In the center 

262 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



of the low-walied enclosure was a small round eleva- 
tion about two feet high, with ^eps leading up to 
it — the higheil point on Mount Calvary. Into this 
little hillock of ^one they chiseled three holes, corre- 
sponding in size to the measurements they had taken 
of the lower ends of the three crosses. The main 
beams of the two crosses for the thieves, which were 
rougher in material and smaller in size than that of 
Our Lord, were now put into position on the ^ony 
summit, one on the right, the other on the left. They 
were sawed off slantingly on top, and ju^ belov/ the 
top were afterwards fa^ened the cross-beams, bound 
to which by the hands were the thieves ^ill lying 
there on the verge of the mountain. 

But the Cross of Our Savior they placed in such 
position that it could, eifter He would be nailed there- 
to, be easily lifted above the ^ony hillock and sunk 
into the hole prepared for it. They mortised in the 
two arm-pieces right and left, drove wedges under 
them, nailed fa^ the landing-block for His feet, bored 
holes for the nails and Pilate's inscription, dug here 
and there along the main beam little cavities for the 
crown of thorns and for the bones in His back, in 
order that His body might ^and rather than hang, 
thus keeping His hands from tearing through and 
forcing Him to undergo a longer martyrdom. Into 
the ground behind the little hill they drove ^akes, 
and upon these they laid a beam, over which were to 
be led the ropes that would raise the Cross on high — 
and made many other similar arrangements. 



263 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



Our Lady and Her Friends Go to Golgotha. 

After meeting her cross-burdened Son, Our Lady 
found herself in that house by the wayside, sur- 
rounded by five friends, Joanna Chusa, Susanna, 
Salome of Jerusalem, John, and the nephew of Joseph 
of Arimathea. The door was closed between her and 
her beloved, sin-burdened Son, but her burning desire 
to be with Him, to suffer with Him, not to leave Him 
till the end, gave her a supernatural ^rength, and the 
veiled company of holy women ha^ened away with 
her to the house of Lazarus near the corner-gate, 
where they found the other holy women, and some 
children among them, gathered mournfully round 
Magdalen and Martha. Now seventeen in number 
they Pepped out upon Our Lord's Way of Sorrow. 

I watched them crossing the forum, all earned 
and determined, careless of the sneers of the rabble, 
their veiled forms and mode^ demeanor command- 
ing respedl even in their deeped desolation. At the 
spot where Jesus had taken up His Cross they knelt 
down and pressed their lips to the ground, then set 
out to follow His ^eps one by one, reverencing every 
point marked by any special suffering. Our Lady, 
and others more deeply illuminated, Pepped in His 
every track. She felt and beheld interiorly every 
detail of His Passion, she counted His every ^ep, and 
while every look and deed and word was burning its 
image into her soul, she guided her companions and 
gave the sign to ^op and reverence as well as to 
proceed to another hallowed spot. 

Thus the mo^ touching of all devotions was 

264 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



written with Simeon's sword into the Mother's loving 
heart, was pronounced by her holy lips to her com- 
panions who reechoed it down to us. Burned by 
God into the heart of the Mother, leaping hrom there 
into the hesirt of the children — thus the tradition 
of the Church is kept alive. And, to one who has had 
the grace to see it as I have, this method of handing 
down tradition seems more than any other full of life 
and holiness. From olden times the Jews had held in 
veneration all places where holy events had happened 
to their loved ones. They leave no sacred spot with- 
out its memorial ^one, before which they often come 
to pray. And the Way of the Cross arose in like 
manner — not from any pious afterthought but from 
the very nature of man and the merciful designs of 
God over His people, out of the loving heart of the 
Mother and under the very feet, as it were, of the Son 
who was fir^ to tread it. 

The holy company moved reverently along till 
they observed Pilate riding at the head of his cavalry 
and two hundred foot-soldiers back from the gate of 
the city. To avoid him they turned into the house of 
Veronica. And here the Face of Jesus on the veil 
called forth tears of compassion, but also words of 
thanksgiving for the mercy shown by Our Lord to His 
faithful friends. They took along with them the vessel 
of aromatic wine which Veronica had not been able to 
present to Our Lord. Veronica herself accompanied 
them, and many other people, not only women but 
men also, joined them as they passed along, attracted 
by their touching air of deep sorrow yet calm resig- 
nation. The company finally became more numer- 

265 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



ous than had been that of Jesus, if we disregard the 
mob that had surrounded Him. 

Indescribable are the sorrov/s Our Lady endured 
when she reached the height and caught sight of the 
fatal enclosure; Not only did she feel with Him all 
His pain, she realized likewise so keenly that soon she 
would be alone on earth. Magdalen was a mo^ 
pitiful sight : Her soul lacerated, her body tottering, 
her whole being hurled as it were from one sorrow 
into another, from brooding silence into loud lament, 
from benumbment into wringing of hands, from com- 
plaints into threats. Her companions had con^antly 
to support her, protedl her, admonish her, conceal her. 

They ascended the gently rising we^ern slope, 
separating as they drew near the summit into three 
divisions which took up positions at varying di^ances 
from the round enclosure. The fir^ group, composed 
of Our Lady, Salome, John, and the daughter of 
Cleophas, came quite near the round enclosure. The 
second group v/as a little farther away. At its center 
surrounded by Martha, Mary of Heli, Veronica, Joan- 
na Chusa, Susanna, and Mary of Mark, ^ood Mary 
Magdalen, unable to contain herself. Another little 
di^ance away ^ood the third group in which there 
were seven persons. A line of friends and sympa- 
thizers ran along and united the groups one to 
another. The Pharisees itood in small bands at 
different places round the enclosure, and Roman 
soldiers guarded the five entrances. 

What a sped:acle for Our Lady! The hill of 
crucifixion, the awful Cross lying in wait, the ham- 
mers, the cords, the fearful nails all ready, and back 
266 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



and forth the toiling executioners, half-naked, abom- 
inable cursing shapes of evil! The main-becims of 
the crosses for the two thieves had already been 
raised, and pegs inserted into the bored holes to 
serve in climbing. The absence of Jesus kept her 
suspended in anguish; she knew He was ^ill alive; 
she longed to see Him; yet she trembled at the 
thought of beholding the consummation of His agony. 

Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments. 

Four executioners now proceeded the seventy 
paces northward to the cave where Jesus languished, 
where He was praying for s1:rength and resigning 
Himself to God for the sins of His enemies. Blows 
and jeers and taunts were not wanting as they dragged 
Him up out of the cave and on up the la^ ^eps of 
His bloody pathway to the Cross. On He came 
through the faring, mocking mob, through the cold, 
reserved, watchful soldiers, till He fell into the furious 
clutches of the executioners within the enclosure. 

When the holy women saw Jesus draw near, they 
got a man to bring the vessel of wine to the execu- 
tioners in hopes the latter might be induced by money 
to give the wine to Our Lord. But they did not give 
it to Him, rather, they drank it afterwards themselves. 
But something they did give Him to drink. They 
had there two brown-colored vessels, one containing 
a mixture of vinegar and gall, the other a mixture of 
vinegar and myrrh, a kind of wormwood-wine. They 
filled a brown cup with the latter liquid and held it 
to His lips. He ta^ed but would not drink. Alto- 

267 



The Passion of Jesus ChTi§t. 



gether there were eighteen executioners within the 
enclosure. The six who had scourged Him, the four 
who had led Him with cords, the two who had held 
up the Cross, the six, finally, who were now to crucify 
Him. Some of them were busy with Our Lord, others 
with the slaves, all drinking and carousing. They 
were small but ^rong, with foreign faces, bushy hair, 
and ^ubby beard, of a dirty grey in color, a set of 
half-naked, bea^ly wretches, who sold themselves to 
the Romans and Jews for coin. 

For me the spectacle was still more terrible, be- 
cause I saw what others did not see, the invisible 
forces of evil at work. Large and fearful devil-shapes 
I saw winding in and out among these cruel execu- 
tioners, handing them what they needed, advising and 
aiding them in every possible way. The ground was 
covered with countless gha^ly appearances in the 
form of toads, snakes and many-clawed dragons, while 
all kinds of ugly poisonous vermin swarmed round 
and through the enclosure, darkening the air, shoot- 
ing into the mouths, penetrating into the breads or 
alighting on the shoulders of those wretches, and 
urging them on to evil or words of cursing and 
mockery. But above Our Lord I saw weeping angels, 
some small, some large, floating in visions of glory. 
Likewise above the heads of Our Lady and her 
friends, compassionating them, consoling, ^rengthen- 
ing, supporting, I saw similar floating shapes of 
angelic glory. 

And now the executioners began to ^rip Our 
Lord. They tore off the mantle that was flung round 
the upper part of His body. They removed both 
268 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



belts, the outer one to hold the cords of those who 
had led Him, the inner one for His own garments. 
They pulled off over His head the white woolen 
upper-garment (it had a slit in the brea^ held to- 
gether with brings), and took the long, narrow neck- 
bcind from His shoulders. The long brown under-coat, 
woven by His Mother, could not be drawn over 
the wide-circling crown of thorns, so they tore the 
latter from His head, reopening all its painful wounds, 
then turned the undercoat inside out over His head, 
drawing it cruelly and derisively over His torn and 
bleeding scalp. 

The trembling frame of the Son of Man now 
^ood exposed: covered with blood, gaping with 
wounds, marked and freaked and Griped with the 
cutting lash. The short w^oolen scapular round the 
upper body, and the cloth round His loins, was all 
that ^iil protedted Him. His drying wounds had 
closed round the wool of the scapular, especially on 
His shoulder, where the heavy cross had ground a 
deep and unutterably painful gorge. And now they 
seized the scapular and tore it mercilessly away. His 
swollen, lacerated frame ilood out more clearly to 
view. His shoulder was sawed open to the very bone, 
and the white fringes of wool clung to the congealed 
edges of His wounds and to the dry blood on His 
brea^. 

When they tore the la^ covering from His loins, 
He mode^ly bent forwards. This movement put 
Him in danger of falling, so they pushed Him roughly 
down upon a ^one they had rolled to the spot. They 
clapped the crown of thorns again down upon His 

269 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



head, and offered Him a drink from the vessel that 
held vinegar and gall, but He turned His lips from it 
in silence. 

His Mother's Violent Prayer. 

But now, when the executioners seized Him by 
the arms, and lifted Him up to throw Him down upon 
the Cross, a loud murmur of indignation went up from 
His friends at His shameful exposure. The Mother's 
prayer was full of holy violence. She was on the point 
of snatching the veil from her own head and rushing 
in to give it to him as protedlion, when a man, who 
had been running at full speed pa^ all the crowds 
he had overtaken on his road from the gate, now in an- 
swer to her prayer bur^ breathless through the 
enclosure in among the executioners and gave Our 
Savior a long piece of cloth wherewith the latter 
thankfully covered Himself. 

This sudden benefad:or of Our Savior, sent by 
God at Our Lady's prayer, had something command- 
ing in his impetuosity. He threatened the execution- 
ers with his fi^, and said ^ernly : "Let the poor Man 
cover himself." He spoke not a single word to any- 
one else, and hurried back as f a^ as he had come. It 
was Jonadab, the nephew of St. Joseph, the son of the 
brother to whom after the birth of Chri^, Joseph had 
given in mortgage the one donkey he had left. 
Jonadab was no decided friend of Jesus, and even 
today he had kept at a di^ance, though he closely 
watched all that happened. The exposure of Jesus 
for scourging had roused his wrath, and as the hour of 
crucifixion drew near, while Mary on Calvary was 
270 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



crying to God, an irresi^ible feeling of anguish fell on 
him and drove him out of the Temple and up the 
mountain. He was fired with the indignation of Sem 
at Cham who mocked while his drunken father lay 
exposed, and he ran, a new Sem, to throw protedtion 
round the Savior who was treading the wine-press 
alone. As the crucifiers were really descendants of 
Cham, and as Jesus was of his own will pressing out 
the wine of His redeeming blood, this act of Jonadab's 
was the fulfillment of a type and deserved for him a 
reward. 

Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross. 

And now the lacerated Vidtim was throw^n down 
upon the Cross. He yielded willingly to His execu- 
tioners, and they jerked Him into position on His 
back, seized His right arm, drew His right hand over 
the hole prepared in the beam, and bound the arm 
fir^ to the Cross. One of them planted his knee in 
Our Lord's brea^, a second kept His hand from clos- 
ing, the third fixed the sharp point of a long thick 
nail again^ the thick part of that blessed hand, and 
began to ^rick furiously with his iron hammer. Sweet 
and clear rang out the tones of pain from Our Lord's 
lips, while His blood leaped forth to redden the arms 
of His crucifiers. The tendons of His hands v/ere 
torn loose, and carried by the three-edged nail on 
through the narrow hole into the cross-beam behind, 
I counted tlie hammer-^rokes, but in my misery have 
forgotten the number. Our Lady's tones of compas- 
sion were soft and low, outwardly she seemed uncon- 
scious, while Magdalen was beside herself with grief. 

271 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Jesus had shuddered at sight of the nails. They 
were long enough to extend an inch out on each side 
of a hand which grasped them in the center, and the 
round cap-shaped head felt, when grasped by the 
hand, about as broad as a half-dollar piece. The 
body of the three-edged nail tapered from the size 
of an ordineiry thumb above to that of a little finger 
below, and ended in a sharp-filed point. When 
driven through it projedled a little di^ance out from 
the beam of the Cross. 

After nailing fa^ the right hand, they found that 
the hole bored for the left hand was too far out, about 
two inches beyond the finger-tips. So they unloosed 
His left arm from the beam, tied their ropes tight 
round the arm, braced their feet again^ the main 
beam of the Cross, and pulled violently till the hand 
v/as even with the place prepared for it. Jesus 
moaned while His arms were thus torn from their 
sockets. His shoulder-blades flattened out. His elbow 
joints visibly pulled asunder. His brea^-bones forcibly 
expanded and elevated, and His knees drawn 
convulsively upv/ards. Again they planted their 
knees on his brea^, tied His arms tight round the 
beams, aud drove the second cruel nail through His 
left hand, while His sweet clear tones of pain mingled 
with the heavy blows of the hammer. His arms were 
drawn so tight and high that they no longer covered 
the upwards slanting cross-beams, and I could see 
between His arm-pits and the beams. 

All His agony wcis shared by Our Lady, she was 
pale as a corpse, and tones of pain fell softly from 
her lips. The Pharisees spouted their mockeries emd 
272 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



curses out over the wsJl where she ^ood, and those 
ajound her led her back a little way to the second 
group of holy women, where Magdalen, with blood- 
shot eyes and insane with grief, wcis tearing her face 
till it bled. 

At about one third of the way up there was 
fastened to the Cross a projecting block of wood, held 
in place by a very large nail. This block was meant 
to serve as support for the feet of Jesus, so He might 
rather ^and thcin hang. Otherwise His hands would 
tear through the nails, and His feet could not be 
nailed feist without breaking. Into this block was 
bored a hole to receive the nail through His feet, and 
a little hollow made for His heels. Elsewhere too 
along the main beam of the Cross were hollowed out 
some little cavities, in order to let Our Lord suffer 
longer, to prevent the hands from tearing through 
and the body from being dragged down by its own 
weight. 

The violent straining of His arms had caused His 
knees to contract and had drawn His whole body high- 
er than fir^ intended. The executioners tied knots 
round His knees and forced them back to the beam, 
but even so His sacred feet would not by far reach 
the ^einding block. How the crucifiers cursed ! Some 
were for making new holes for the arms, as it was too 
difficult to raise the block higher. Others shouted in 
awful mockery that He did not want to stretch out but 
they would show Him how. They tied cords to His 
right leg and dragged it with agonizing violence till 
His foot reached the block, whereupon they tied His 
leg tightly to the beam. Under this awful distension 

273 

18 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



of His body His che^-bones cracked and He moaned 
aloud: "My God, My God." As che^ and arms 
were fa^ bound to the Cross in order to keep the 
hands from tearing through, the whole lower body 
seemed to tear loose hrom the upper, and His ribs to 
snap off from His brea^-bone. O God, what a shudder- 
ing spectacle ! In the same fearful manner the left foot 
was dragged down upon the right. They bound it down 
as tightly as they could, but as it could not be brought 
to re^ firm enough for driving the nail, they took a 
borer, smaller and more flat-headed than the nails for 
the hands, and drove it into His in^ep, somewhat as 
a shoemaker uses the awl to make way for the needle. 
This done, they seized the mo^ fearful of the nails, 
much longer than the others,and drove it with cracking 
grinding force through the opened inj>tep, of His left 
foot, down through the right foot into the hole in the 
block and on into the beam of the Cross. I was 
looking on from the side of the Cross and saw the 
one nail go through both feet. 

The dimension of His body made this nailing of 
His feet more av/ful than any suffering He had yet 
endured. I counted about six and thirty hammer 
^rokes, and mingling with them I heard con^antly the 
moans of my poor Savior. Sweet, clear and pure 
came His tones of pain, while the mockeries of His 
furious tormentors sounded dull and cloudy. 

Our Lady During the Crucifixion. 
Our Lady had again approached the enclosure. 
The awful dragging and cracking of His body, the 
sweet tones of pain that came from His lips, again 

274 



Jesus on Mount Calvary. 



transfixed her soul cind she sank into the arms of her 
companions. A tumult arose, Pharisees rode up and 
cursed, and her hriends removed her again. From 
time to time during the crucifixion, as also during the 
elevation of the Cross now to follow, cries of compas- 
sion and indignation broke from the lips of many, 
especially women : "Oh, why doesn't fire come from 
Heaven to devour them!" New jeers and taunts 
were the only answer to these outbur^ of love. 

The words that Jesus used to express His awful 
pain were passages from the Psalms and the Prophets, 
passages that He was at that moment fulfilling. All 
along His way to the Cross, and on to the moment of 
His death. He never ceased calling forth through His 
agony the inspired words He was consummating. I 
heard all these passages, pronounced them along with 
Him, and remembered them whenever I prayed the 
Psalms. But now I am so crushed and ground to 
pieces by the agonies of my Bridegroom, that I cannot 
get them together. — The glorious weeping angels 
continued to hover round Jesus. 

When the crucifixion began, the leader of the 
Roman guard fa^ened the title written by Pilate to 
the peg prepared for it above Our Savior's head, and 
the soldiers laughed loudly at the words : *King of 
the Jews.* This embittered the Pharisees, and some 
of them took measurements, and rode back to the 
city to ask Pilate for a new inscription. 

By the sun it was about a quarter pei^ twelve. 
When they set about raising the Cross, a loud buril 
of trumpets sounded across from the Temple. The 
Eailer lamb was about to be slain. 

275 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



Jesus on the Cross. 
Elevation of the Cross. 

The executioners now ran cords through the 
rings at the rear and drew the head of the Cross in 
hont of the little hillock. These ropes were then 
thrown across the hillock and over the beam eredted 
on the other side, and upon this as a pulley several of 
the executioners lifted the Cross on high, while others 
with picksuces Readied its course and guided its foot 
into the hole prepared for it. This done, they pushed 
the top of the Cross forwards till it ^ood ^raight and 
shot down heavily into its place. The Cross rocked 
under the blow, Jesus gave a loud cry of agony, the 
di^ended weight of the body sagged downwards, the 
wounds gaped wider, the blood ran more freely, the 
dislocated joints knocked one again^ the other. The 
executioners shook the Cross till it ^ood firm, then 
drove five wedges round it into the rock: one in 
front, one to the right, one to the left, and two behind, 
where the beam was somewhat round in shape. 

Twas a mo^ awful yet mo^ consoling spedtacle 
to see the Cross rise up in the mid^ of that va^ 
multitude, waver back and forth and then sink 
violently into place. The derisive cries of Pharisee 
and executioner were reenforced by those of the 
crowds who could not see Him from a di^ance. But 
these cruel cries were offset by sounds of love and 
compeission. The holie^ voices on esurth, the voice of 
Mother, of friends, of all who were clean of heart, 
wafted tones of loving reverential sorrow up to the 
Eternal Incarnate Word hanging there upon the Cross. 
276 



Jesus on the Cross. 



The hands of all who loved were out^retched in 
loving fear toward the quivering Bridegroom of souls, 
as under the hands of sinners He rose in crucified 
helplessness before their eyes. But when the Cross 
sank with loud crash into its landing-place, a sudden 
^illness fell on the multitude. Yea, the whole world 
seemed to be ^ruck by a feeling it had never felt 
before. Hell itself trembled at the echo of that falling 
Cross, then reared up in rage and scorn again^ it. 
But upon the languishing souls in Purgatory and 
Limbo that echo came like an angel of trembling joy 
and fulfilled longing, like the knock of the Conqueror 
at the gates of Redemption. After ages of waiting 
the Holy Cross is at length planted in the center of 
the encircling earth, like the Tree of Life in Paradise, 
and from the wounds of Jesus as from so many 
fountains ^ream down upon the ground four rivers 
of crimson water to sweep the curse from the desolate 
earth and transform it once more into a fruitful 
garden of Eden. 

In those fir^ moments, while Our Lord hung 
thus exalted above the earth, while derisive din and 
clamor was hushed in silent awe, there floated across 
from the Temple sounds of many trumpets into that 
^illness, meant to announce that sacrificing hand 
had been laid upon the typical lamb in the Temple, 
but in reality proclaiming with my^erious solemnity 
the Exaltation of the True Lamb that ^ands slain 
before the throne of God in Heaven. No wonder 
that under the overwhelming impressiveness of that 
solemn moment many a hard heart melted and 
poured itself out in the words of John the Bapti^ : 

277 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 



"Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh 
away the sins of the world." 

The hillock was about a foot and a half high, 
connected by a slanting pathway with the adjacent 
ground. When the foot of the Cross ^ood at the edge 
of the hole, Our Lord's feet re^ed about a man's 
height above the ground, and when it was fa^ened to 
its place, His feet were low enough for His friends to 
kiss and embrace. His face looked to the northwest. 

Crucifixion of the Thieves. 

The so-called *thief on the left hand* was the 
seducer and ma^er of the other, and was older and 
more wicked than the latter. They are generally 
called *Dismas' and *Gesmas', and as I have forgotten 
their real names, I will call the good thief Dismas, the 
other Gesmas. Both had belonged to the robber-band 
in the frontiers of Egypt in whose dwelling the Holy 
Family on its flight had once found shelter, and Dismas 
was the leper lad who at Our Lady's sugge^ion had 
been washed in Our Lord's bath and been in^anta- 
neously healed. The merciful protection thrown by 
his mother round the Holy Family had been rewarded 
by the miraculous cure of her child. Yet that miracle 
was but a type, now defined to be accomplished in 
his crucifixion by the cleansing blood of Jesus. 

Dismas was a degraded wretch, he did not know 
Jesus, ^ill he was not ^ubbornly wicked, and Our 
Lord's patience had affedted him. At the spot where 
both lay he was con^antly talking to Gesmas about 
Jesus. "Their treatment of this Galilean," he said, "is 
278 



Jesus on the Cross. 



something awful. He mu^ have done some greater 
evil with this new law of His than we ever did. But 
His patience and His power over men is wonderful." 
"What power has He shown?" retorted Gesmas. "If 
He were as mighty as they say, He could help us all." 

They went on talking in this ^rain till the Cross 
of Jesus was raised. Executioners then came and 
dragged them towards the hillock with the remark 
that it was now their turn. The work went on 
hurriedly, for the sun was obscured and there was a 
movement in nature like the approach of a tempeil. 
Their arms were twined back over the cross-beams, 
ropes were run round their wri^s, elbows, knees and 
ankles, and drawn by inserted rods so tight that their 
muscles began to bleed and their joints to crack. 
They broke out in fearful howls, but Dismas said 
while being lifted to his place : "Had you treated us 
as you have that poor Galilean, you would not need 
to pull us up there now." 

On the spot where the two thieves had been 
lying some of the executioners had divided the 
garments of Our Lord into several little bundles, 
intending to ca^ lots for them. His mantle was 
narrower above than below, and was made to fall in 
folds about Him. At the brea^ it had two layers, 
arranged so as to form pockets. This mantle they 
cut into long ^rips, which they divided among them- 
selves. The long white garment, tied with brings at 
the open brea^, they likewise cut into ^rips and 
divided. His neck-cloth, belt, scapular and loin-cloth, 
all soaked with His blood, they also di^ributed. But 
the brown-colored woven undercoat would be useless 

279 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 

if cut into pieces, and they fell to quarreling whose it 
should be. So they began to ca^ lots for it by throw- 
ing bean-shaped ^ones at a kind of chess-board 
marked v/ith numbers. But at this moment a messen- 
ger arrived from some men who were adling under 
orders from Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. On 
hearing from the messenger that at the foot of the 
mountain there were people who wished to buy, the 
executioners hazily gathered Our Lord's garments to- 
gether, and rushed down to sell them, and thus these 
sacred relics came into the hands of the Chri^ians. 

Our Lord's Agony on the Cross. 

The violent concussion of the Cross as it plunged 
into its ^ony re^ing-place caused rich breams of 
blood to flow from Our Lord's thorn-crowned head, 
and His crucified hands and feet. Ladders were 
brought,and the executioners climbed up and removed 
the ropes that had kept His body from tearing loose 
during the elevation of the Cross. His blood, hith- 
erto hindered in its course by His lying position and the 
tightly-drawn cords, now began to circulate more 
rapidly. His agony took on a new and overpowering 
intensity. His head sank upon His brea^ and He hung 
unconscious, like one dead, for seven minutes. 

Silence reigned now for a while roundabout. The 
executioners were busy dividing His garments, foes 
were exhausted with fury, friends with compassion. 
And while the di^ant trumpet tones rose and fell and 
died away on that sea of silence, I g£ized upon my 
Jesus, my Savior, the Savior of the world, unconscious 
280 



Jesus on the Cross. 



with pain, motionless like one dead. I looked upon 
Him with intense earne^ness and terror and compas- 
sion, I felt myself near to death, thought rather of 
dying than of living. My heart was crushed with 
bitterness, and love, and sorrow, my head seemed to 
have gone mad in a prickly ne^ of thorns, my hands 
and feet were furnaces red-hot with pain. And quiv- 
ering through all my veins, and along all my nerves, 
crossing and recrossing one another in all my mem- 
bers, ^ruggling with one another wherever they 
met, were a thousand lightning flashes of untold 
suf¥ering, each the source of new tortures. Yet all 
this fecirful agony was naught but love, doubled and 
redoubled love, all this quivering fire of pain, did but 
illumine the night of compassion and consolation 
wherein the eyes of my soul were riveted to the cruci- 
fied beauty of the Bridegroom of Souls. 

Kis head, heavy with that awful crown, sending 
down rivulets of blood into His eyes, His beard, and 
languishing mouth, was bowed low upon His breast, 
and could later, under that wide-circling crown, not 
raise itself without unspeakable suffering. His chest 
w£is violently widened out and forced upwards. His 
shoulder-blades hollow and fearfully distended, his 
elbows and wri^s all but torn from their sockets. His 
blood breaming down along His arms from the wide- 
rent wounds in His hands. Beneath the high projedl- 
ing brea^ was a deep depression. His body below the 
ribs so narrow and hollow and thin that it seemed to 
have disappeared entirely. 

Like His arms were also His loins and legs — fear- 
fully drained, the joints almo^ torn asunder. So 

281 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



violently di^ented were His limbs, so pitifully ^trained 
His muscles and lacerated skin, that I could count all 
His bones, from the feet transfixed by that awful nail, 
where blood weis trickling down along the beam of 
the Cross, to the head pierced by that heavy crown of 
thorns. And from head to foot His sacred body was 
one lacerated mass of wounds, and Gripes, and bruises, 
swollen into bumps of brown, blue and yellow, and 
flayed into red and bloody blotches. Deeper wounds 
yawned ^ill wider in that universal distension, and 
spilled forth blood, that was at fir^ red, but then grew 
pale and watery, while the holy body grew ever whiter, 
the red edges of His wounds peeled off, and His flesh 
seemed pale and bloodless. But fearfully disfigured 
though it was, that body on the Cross ^ill inspired 
untold reverence and tenderness. The beautiful Son 
of the Father, Eternal Love self-sacrificed in time, ^ill 
shone beautiful, and pure, and holy, out through the 
body of the Lamb, the body that lay crumbling 
beneath the crushing sins of men. 

Our Lord's body, like that of His Mother, shone 
by nature with a golden yellow glow on a background 
of delicate red. His exertions during these la^ years, 
and particularly His frequent journeys, had given a 
deeper tan to His cheeks and nose. His body was 
beautifully built. His brea^ and shoulders were 
broad and high. The muscles of His arms were ^rong 
and well-developed, likewise those at His loins. His 
legs were long, very ^rong in the calves, a sign of 
much walking and mountain-climbing. His knees 
were powerfully developed by long marching and 
kneeling. His feet were beautiful and ^rong, callous 
282 



Jesus on the Cross. 



and homy from barefoot walking over rough roads. 
His hsinds were beautiful, with long, tapering fingers, 
neither soft and effeminate, nor yet rough £ind hard 
from heavy labor. His neck w£is well-proportioned 
and not too large. His forehead high and open, the 
lineeiments of His face sweeping round in beautiful 
curves. His heiir of a reddish brown, not thick or bushy, 
but parted in a simple line, from which it hung 
down to His neck. His beeird, finally, not long, but 
tapering on both sides of the line of cleavage along 
the chin. 

Such had been His body. But now mo^ of His 
hair Wcis torn out while what remained was clotted 
with blood. His frame was simply wound on wound. 
His brea^ seeimgly broken in two, with a deep cavity 
beneath the vaulted che^, His abdomen dragged 
downwards so violently that here and there His ribs 
protruded through the lacerated skin. Above the 
projedling hip-bones His body W2is drawn so thin that 
it did not cover the beam of the Cross entirely. 

The Cross was somewhat round behind, flat in 
front, and about as wide as it was thick. Its various 
pieces of wood were of different colors, some brown, 
some yellow, and the main beam had the dark color 
of wood that has long lain in the water. 

First Word of Jesus on the Cross. 

Fifty Roman soldiers now marched up the hill to 
replace their companions on guard. The captain of 
the new band, named Abenadeir, was a born Arabian, 
later on baptized under the name of Ctesiphon. His 
lieuten£int, Cassius by neime, some sort of a messenger 

283 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



in Pilate's service, was afterwards known as Longinus. 
With the soldiers rode up likewise another company : 
twelve Pharisees, twelve Sadducees, twelve Scribes, 
and a number of the Ancients. Included in this band 
were those who had gone to ask Pilate for a new title 
for the Cross. Their efforts had been in vain, Pilate 
had not even admitted them into his presence, and 
they were more bitter than ever. They rode round 
the enclosure, calling Our Lady a bad woman, and 
drove her away. John led her back to the other 
women, and Magdalen and Martha held her in their 
arms. 

As these mockers rode round the Cross in front 
of Jesus, they wagged their heads, and outdid one 
another in devilish derision: "Vah, thou liar! Art 
thou he who de^royeth the Temple and buildeth it 
up again in three days?'* — "Others he pretended to 
help, himself he cannot help." — "If thou be the Son 
of God come down from the Cross." — "If he be the 
king of Israel, let him come down from the cross and 
we will believe in him." — "He has tru^ed in God, let 
God help him." — The soldiers, too, began to mock, 
saying : "If thou be the King of the Jews, help thyself." 

While Jesus ^ill hung unconscious, Gesmas, the 
thief on the left, remarked : "His demon has deserted 
him." One of the soldiers fa^ened to a reed a sponge 
dipped in vinegar and held it before the face of Jesus 
who seemed to sip a little while the mockeries contin- 
ued. "If thou be the King of the Jews," said the 
soldier, "save thyself." All this took place in those 
moments when the former guard was being releeised 
by Abenadar's company. 
284 



Jesus on the Cross. 



But Jesus raised his head somewhat and said: 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." He went on to pray silently, while Gesmeis cried 
out: "If thou be the Chri^ save thyself and us." 
Scorn and derision continued, but the thief on the 
right was deeply moved by Our Lord's prayer for His 
enemies. When Our Lady heard the voice of Jesus, 
her friends could no longer retrain her. She broke 
into the enclosure, followed by John, Salome and 
Mary of Cleophas, and the captain did not drive them 
away. 

Dismas on the right was by Our Lord's prayer 
^ruck with a ray of light at Mary's approach. He 
recognized in Jesus and His Mother those who had 
cured him when a child, and he cried out with a loud 
and clear voice somewhat as follows : "How dare you 
blaspheme Him when He is praying for you? He 
suffers in silent prayer and you blaspheme ! He is a 
prophet, He is our King, He is the Son of God !" This 
unexpected denunciation from the lips of a dying 
murderer roused the mockers to tumultuous anger, 
and they would have ^oned the bold penitent on his 
cross had not Abenadar fore^alled them, repulsed 
them, and re^ored order and calm. 

While Our Lady felt herself new-^rengthened by 
Our Lord's prayer, Gesmas shouted at Jesus : "If thou 
be the Chri^, save thyself and us." But Dismas 
answered him : "Ha^ thou no fear of God, though 
thou art under the same condemnation. And we 
indeed suffer ju^ly, for we receive the reward of our 
deeds, but He has done nothing evil. Beware ! 'Tis 
thy la^ hour! Be converted!" etc. The soul of 

285 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



Dismas was full of light and grace, and he confessed 
to Jesus, saying : "Lord, if thou condemn me, I am 
served rightly, but do Thou have mercy on me." 
And Jesus answered : "Thou shalt ta^e my mercy." 
And for the next quarter of an hour Dismas felt deep 
sorrow for his life. 

The events I have now been telling were either 
simultaneous or rapidly successive, all transpiring a 
few minutes after the elevation of the Cross, between 
twelve and half-pa^ twelve. But a great change v/as 
to come over the souls of mo^ of the spectators, for 
while the penitent thief was speaking there appeared 
a great sign in nature which ^ruck the multitude with 
con^ernation. 

The Sun is Darkened. 
Second and Third Word of Jesus on the Cross. 

Before ten o'clock that morning, before condem- 
nation had been passed by Pilate, some showers of 
hail had fallen at various times, while from ten o'clock 
till twelve the sky had been bright with sunshine. But 
at noon a foggy dark-red haze began to veil the sun. 
And about half an hour later — half-pa^ twelve by 
Jewish time, ju^ at noon by the sun itself — there took 
place a mo^ wonderful eclipse of the sun. While it 
was preparing I seemed to be lifted up from the earth 
altogether. I saw heavenly rings and ^arry orbits of 
various kinds circling through and intertwining mo^ 
wonderfully with one another. The moon I saw at 
the other side of the earth, and while I gazed, it gave 
a quick leap, like a ball of fire swaying suspended in 
the air. Then I was again in Jerusalem, and saw the 
286 



Jesus on the Cross. 



full moon, shining with a pale light, shoot up over 
Mount Olivet, and rush rapidly from the ea^ till it 
^ood before the nebulous sun. The heavens grew 
quite dark and through them shone the red-gli^ening 
^ars. 

An unknown feeling of terror fell upon man and 
bea^. Cattle roared and fled away, birds sought 
holes of refuge and dropped down in crowds upon 
the hills round Mount Calvary, so frightened they 
would let themselves be captured by the hemdfuL 
The mockers gradually grew silent, the Pharisees 
attempted at fir^ to explain the phenomenon, but 
their attempt fell flat and they too had to yield to an 
inner feeling of terror. The eyes of the multitude 
were fa^ened on the heavens. Many were ^riking 
their breads, wringing their hands, and crying out : 
*'His blood come upon His murderers." Near and 
far in the frightened multitude many turned towards 
the Cross, flung themselves upon their knees, and 
besought pardon from the Crucified One, and Jesus 
turned His forgiving suffering eyes upon them. 

While the darkness grew ever denser, and the 
multitude continued to gaze at that my^erious sky, 
the Cross itood deserted by all but Our Lord's 
Mother and friends. Dismas, who had been sunk in 
deep sorrow, now raised his head humbly and looked 
full of hope at Jesus, saying : "Lord, send me to a 
place whence Thou can^ come to redeem me; re- 
member me when Thou comeil into Thy kingdom." 
Jesus said to him : "Amen, I say to thee, this day 
shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." 

Our Lady, Mary of Cleophas, Mary Magdalen 

287 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



and John ^ood between the crosses of the thieves at 
the foot of Our Lord's Cross, looking up at Jesus. 
Her mother love overwhelmed Our Lady and with 
burning inner prayer she besought her Son to die with 
Him. Jesus looked upon His Mother with earned 
and compassionate eyes, then turned His eyes towards 
John and said : "Woman, behold thy son : he will be 
thy son more than if thou had^ given him birth." 

He added words in praise of John, saying : "He 
has ever been faithful and guileless, and has not 
taken scandal, except the time when his mother 
wished to exalt him." To John himself He said : "Be- 
hold thy Mother." And there beneath the Cross of 
the dying Redeemer the loving son embraced with 
reverence the Mother of Jesus now become his own 
Mother. But this solemn will and testament of her 
dying Son shook Our Lady's loving soul to its depths, 
she lo^ outward consciousness, sank into the arms of 
the holy women, and was by them led for a while to 
a reiting-place on the wall in front of the Cross, then 
out of the enclosure to the spot where the other 
women were gathered. 

I do not know whether or not Jesus spoke all 
these words aloud, but I felt Him saying them when 
He gave His Mother to be John's Mother and John to 
be her son. In these contemplations I perceive much 
that is not written, and with common words I can only 
tell the lea^ part of what 1 see. What in vision is so 
clear as to be self-under^ood, it is impossible to make 
intelligible by words. In looking upon the scene I 
feel no a^onishment on hearing Jesus call His 
Mother: "Woman." I feel that she is really the 
288 



Jesus on the Cross. 



Woman, the woman who is at this very hour crushing 
the serpent's head, at this hour when to hilfill the 
olden prophecy her Son hangs sacrificed upon the 
Cross. Nor do I wonder that He gave John as son 
to her who had been hailed by the angel as *hill of 
grace.' For John's name, too, is a name of grace, 
and there in the light of the Cross the reality 
corresponds to the name. John had become a child 
of God, and in him lived Christ Himself. 

And when Mary is given as Mother to John, I 
likewise feel how she is given as Mother to all who 
receive Him as John did, who believe in His name 
and become children of God, who are born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
man, but of God. I feel how she, ever the very 
image of purity, humility and obedience, she who 
became the Mother of the Eternal Incarnate Word at 
the moment when she bowed her head before the 
angel and said : "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" — 
I feel, I say, how she now, on hearing from the lips of 
her dying Son that she is to become Mother in spirit 
of another son, again bows her head in humble 
submission, and again, amid the agonies of farewell, 
repeats the words that bind her eyes and soul to us 
her new children: "Behold the handmaid of the 
world, be it done to me according to Thy word." 
There in vision all this seems so simple and self- 
undersl:ood, but here it is so manifold and my^erious 
that it must rather be felt by the grace of God than 
expressed in human words. These matters often 
remind me of the word once spoken to me by my 
Heavenly Bridegroom: "All these my^eries ^and 

289 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



written in the hearts of those children of the Church 
who believe, hope, and love." 

Jesus Forsaken. 
Fourth Word of Jesus on the Cross. 

The multitude had not at fir^ paid much heed 
to the growing darkness. Their attention had been 
held by the absorbing scenes on Golgotha: The 
horrible fury of the crucifiers, their cries and curses 
at the elevation of the Cross, the howls of the two 
thieves on being bound to their crosses, the mockeries 
of the Pharisees as they rode round the enclosure, the 
succession of changing soldiers, the noisy departure 
of drunken executioners, and then the denunciation 
of the penitent Dismas, followed by renewed raging 
of the Pharisees again^ him. But the growing dark- 
ness made the speculators more earned and drew 
their attention from the Cross. Then it was that 
Jesus commended His Mother to John, whereupon 
she was led forth from the enclosure. 

A pause of sombre silence now ensued. The 
waxing darkness terrified the multitude, mo^ of them 
^ood gazing at the commotion in the sky, many felt 
pricks of conscience, ^ruck their breads, or turned 
contritely to the Cross. Sympathy gradually united 
those similarly disposed into groups. The Pharisees, 
inwardly terrified, ^ill endeavored to explain the 
phenomenon away, but their words became ever more 
feeble and hesitating and finally died away altogether. 
Now and then an insolent word came from their lips 
but it was felt to be forced. The sun itself shone pale 
290 



Jesus on the Cross. 



and feeble, like mountains in moonshine, but it was 
encircled by a red ring, and also the ^ars twinkled 
with red light. Birds fell from the sky down upon 
Mount Calvary cind the surrounding vineyards, so 
dunned with fright that men could grasp them with 
hands, animals in the neighborhood roared and trem- 
bled, the horses and asses of the Pharisees flocked 
close together and hung their heads. Fog and vapor 
enveloped the entire neighborhood. 

Silence reigned round the Cross, the multitude 
had turned away, many were fleeing into the city. 
Our crucified Savior had turned to His Father, and 
was sending to Him burning prayers of love for His 
enemies, while a feeling of the deeped abandonment 
began to creep over Him. He was praying, as usual 
during His Passion, in the words of the Psalms which 
He was fulfilling, and as He prayed I saw angel forms 
hover around Him. But as the darkness increased, 
and terror weighed down upon the multitude, I saw 
Jesus hang lonely and forsaken, abandoned by God 
and man. In that desolation. He suffered all that man 
can suffer when he is left to himself, poor, neiked and 
alone, crushed and ground by inward tribulation, 
without a ray of consolation, human or divine, when 
faith, hope and charity ^and forsaken in the desert, 
without tru^ in their power, answer to their calls, or 
light for their eyes, living on themselves and consum- 
ing themselves in infinite torture. 'Tis an agony 
impossible to describe. 

In this abyss of desolation Jesus won for us also 
the power to gain the vidtory even in the mo^ extreme 
^ate of misery and abandonment, even when all 

291 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



bonds seem to have broken which united us with the 
world wherein we live here below, and when even 
those avenues close before us which lead from this 
life to a better one beyond. For us miserable sinners 
He offered His poverty, His agony. His abandonment, 
and for us it was accepted. Members of His body, 
which is the Church, we no longer need despair even 
in the extreme of desolation, when the \a!§t ray of 
light and consolation has faded, and utter darkness 
sinks down upon the soul. No longer mu^ we de- 
scend alone into the inner desert of this midnight 
blackness. Into the yawning depths of this sea of 
bitterness Jesus has sunk His own inner and outer 
abandonment on the Cross, and that abandonment of 
His flings its protecting mantle round us, even in the 
mid^ of the shadow of death. The land of death is no 
longer a lonely desert, no longer a land of desolation 
and despair, since Our Savior trod triumphantly its 
darksome ways, since He, the Way, the Life, and the 
Truth, has cowed and quelled all its terrors, has set up 
in its mid^ the Cross that illuminates this consuming 
wilderness even to its circling horizon. 

In that ^ate of utter de^itution and helplessness 
Jesus did what Love muil do — He surrendered Him- 
self to us, and His poor forssJcen Self became our 
treasure, His life and toil and mercy and sorrow. His 
endurance of our bitter ingratitude, transformed our 
poverty and weakness into riches for His Heavenly 
Father. And as He redeemed us back into children 
of God, so by His la^ will and te^ament before God 
He left Himself, all that He was and had, an inherit- 
ance to sinful mankind. In those God-abandoned 
292 



Jesus on the Cross. 



moments His eye swept onwards to the end of time, 
and embraced each and every forsaken, agonizing 
soul, embraced pcurticularly those proud blind souls 
who think that since He was God He could not have 
any keen feeling of agony, that He did not suffer as 
men do, or at leail suffered less than other men would. 

While I joined in His prayer, and felt what He 
felt during prayer, I underwood Him saying : Let it 
be proclaimed that He felt this abandonment more 
bitterly than any other man ever could, felt it juil 
because His humanity was united to the Divinity, be- 
cause He was both true God and true man, because 
as God-Man He could feel in the deeped depths of 
its bitterness cill the lonely desolation ever endured 
by each and every member of God-abandoned mcin- 
kind. 

And so, in order to give testimony to His forsak- 
enness, cmd to obtain for all His brethren the right to 
tru^ful, childlike expo^ulation before their Father, 
Jesus, about three o'clock, cried out in a loud voice : 
"EZi, Eli, lamma sabacthani/* that is, "My God, my 
God, why hail Thou forsaken Me?" 

When this loud cry broke in upon the frightened 
^illness, the mockers turned again to the Cross. One 
of them said : "He calleth Elias," while another cried : 
"Let us see whether Elias comes to take him down." 
The Nether, too, heaid again the voice of the Son, 
and could no longer be retrained. Again she forced 
her way in to the Cross, followed by John, Mary of 
Cleophas, Magdalen and Salome. 

Soon after three o'clock it grew lighter. The 
moon began to pass from in front of the sun, in the 

293 



The Passion of Jesus Chri^. 



diredtion opposite to that it had come. And as the 
moon sank quickly, as if falling, below the opposite 
horizon; the sun again appeared, dim and rayless, 
and enveloped in a red haze. But little by little the 
sun again sent forth its rays, and the ^ars disappeared. 
But though it was ^ill dark and hazy, the growing 
light gave back to the mockers their old-time trium- 
phant insolence. It weis at this moment they cried : 
"He is calling Elias." But Abenadar commanded 
them to be quiet. 

Death of Jesus. 

Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Word 
of Jesus on the Cross. 

The growing brightness illumined the body of Jesus 
on the Cross : pale, livid, perishing, more white and 
bloodless than ever. Whether half-loud, or only in 
inward prayer perceived by me alone, I know not, 
but anyhow He said the following words: "I am 
pressed like the wine, which on this spot was fir^ 
damped out of grapes. Blood mu^ be pressed from 
Me till water comes, and the hulls are trodden white. 
But never more shall on this spot wine be trodden in 
the press." 

Utterly exhau^ed, languishing with thir^. His 
tongue parched, Our Savior said : "I thir^." And to 
His friends who gazed up at Him so sadly. He added : 
"Could you not have given Me water to drink ?" Dur- 
ing the darkness. He meant to say, no one would 
surely have hindered them. "O Lord," John answered 
294 



Death of Jesus. 



sorrowfully, "we did not think of it." And Jesus 
replied in about these words : "Even my nearer and 
dezure^ mu^ forget Me, mu^ offer Me nothing to 
drink, in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled." 
Yet this forgetfulness caused Him bitter pain. 

But now after His loving remon^rance His friends 
besought the soldiers, cind offered them money, to 
give Our Lord water to drink. The soldiers would 
not, but one of them poured gall into vinegar that 
^ood there in a vessel made of bcirk, and dipped a 
sponge into the mixture. But Abenadar, touched 
with sympathy for Jesus, took the sponge from the 
soldier, squeezed out its ugly contents and filled it 
with pure vinegar. He fa^ened one end of the sponge 
round a short piece of hyssop-reed, the other end he 
attached to the point of his spear, and raised the 
contrivance to Our Lord's lips, so that through the 
reed as through a tube Jesus could draw the vinegar 
from the sponge into His mouth. 

Our Savior's hour was now come. He began to 
v/reitle with death and a cold sweat broke out over 
His whole body. John ^ood below in front, drying 
his Maker's feet with his handkerchief. Magdalen 
was crouched agciin^ the back of the Cross, lo^ in 
agonizing sorrow. Our Lady ^ood between the Cross 
of Jesus and that of the good thief, supported in the 
arms of Mary of Cleophas and Scdome, her eyes 
riveted to the face of her dying Son. Jesus said : "It 
is consummated," then raised His head and cried 
with a loud voice : "Father, into Thy hands I com- 
mend My spirit." 'Twas a sweet powerful cry, that 
penetrated and filled Heaven and earth. When the 

295 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



words were ended, He bowed His head and gave up 
the gho^, and like a luminous shadow I saw His soul 
sink down near the Cross into the ground and pass 
on into Limbo. John and the holy women fell face 
downward to the ground. 

Abenadar, the captain, an Arabian by birth, 
later as disciple known by the name Ctesiphon, was 
sitting on his horse in the same position he had held 
since he had given Jesus vinegar to drink, so close 
that his horse's fore-feet re^ed on the hillock of 
crucifixion. He was deeply moved, and gazed long 
and earne^ly, and uninterruptedly into that dying 
Face under its crown of thorns. The horse's head 
was sunk in sickening fear, and the rider, his pride 
broken, tightened not the slackened rein. Then Our 
Lord spoke those la^ words so loudly and powerfully, 
and gave up His spirit with that penetrating cry that 
resounded through earth, and hell, and Heaven. 

Immediately the earth round about trembled, and 
the rocks bur^ and yawned wide between Our Lord 
and the thief on the left. God's te^imony to His Son 
came sweeping through the depths of nature, and 
nature shuddered in horror. It was consummated — 
Our Lord's soul had passed from the body. And 
while all that va^ multitude trembled with the rever- 
ent and trembling earth, while the keen sword of 
bereavement transfixed the hearts of friends — at this 
moment grace fell upon Abenadar. He felt his hard 
proud soul tremble like the rocks of Calvary — and in 
that feeling he threw from him his spear, ^ruck with 
mighty hand his penitent heart, and cried out aloud 
with the voice of a new-born man : "Blessed be God, 
296 



Death of Jesus, 



the Almighty, the God of Abraham and Jacob ! This 
was a ju^ man, truly He is the Son of God !" Swept 
away by his words many of the soldiers followed his 
example. 

But now that he was a new man, a redeemed 
man, after rendering public homage to the Son of God, 
Abenadar would no longer be servant to Our Lord's 
enemies. He turned his horse's head to his subor- 
dinate officer, then called Cassius, and spoke a few 
words to the soldiers, as also to Cassius, who now 
be^rode Abenadar's horse and took his place as 
commander. Abenadar himself hurried down from 
Calvary and on through the Valley of Gihon till he 
reached the disciples hiding in the Valley of Hinnom. 
To them he announced the death of Jesus, and hurried 
onwards to report to Pilate. 

The terror which fell upon those present at the 
death-cry of Jesus, when the earth shook and Calvary 
bur^ open, this terror spread out over entire nature : 
the veil of the Temple was rent asunder and some of 
its walls sank, many dead rose from their graves, and 
mountains and buildings collapsed in many parts of 
the world. 

When Abenadar and many of the soldiers with 
him cried out in te^imony of Our Lord's Divinity, 
many of the multitude were converted, and even 
many of the late^ to arrive among the Pharisees. 
Many began to ^rike their breads and lament, and 
wandered down from the mountain and through the 
valley to their homes. Others rent their garments 
and sprinkled du^ on their heads. All were filled 
with terror and con^emation. 

297 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



John rose up from where he lay, and several of 
the holy women, who so far had ^ood at a di^ance, 
now pushed their way into the enclosure, raised from 
the ground Our Lady and her friends, and led them 
out of the enclosure in order to console them. 

Oh, God, how fearful it had been to watch Our 
Lord during those la^ loving moments, when He was 
paying the la^ farthing for sinners, commending His 
soul to His God and His Father, and delivering His 
body up to death. Behold that shattered vessel of 
holiness take on the pale cold colors of death, that 
languished body ^ill quiver in agony, those breams 
of trickling blood grow ever more dark and di^indt. 
His face is drawn and di^ended. His cheeks cave in. 
His nose becomes more narrow and pointed. His chin 
drops. His blood-closed eyes open half-broken, His 
thorn-crowned head is raised for the lail time, then 
pressed by the burden of His pain sinks down upon 
His brea^. Then back through the half-open blue 
lips is seen the bloody tongue, His fingers let go their 
convulsive grasp of the heads of the nails and ^raight- 
en out. His hands draw inwards and downwards, His 
arms Wretch their full length. His back falls in again^ 
the Cross, and the full weight of His body sinks down 
upon His crucified feet. Under that weight His knees 
give way and bend to one side, and His feet twi^ 
somewhat round the nails that hold them fa^. 

Can we wonder that in sight of this awful sped:a- 
cle Our Lady^s hands seemed paralyzed with agony, 
that her eyes darkened and her ears refused to hear, 
that a deathly pallor mantled her face, that her feet 
broke under her and let her sink to the ground? 
298 



Death of Jesus. 



And when she was raised by gentle hands, when again 
she lifted her eyes to the Cross, v/hat a vision met her 
eyes ? That mo^ pure and beautiful body, conceived 
in her by the Holy Gho^, flesh of her flesh, bone of 
her bone, the co^ly shrine formed in her Divinely 
overshadowed womb — how forlorn and desecrated is 
it now ! Robbed of all its beautiful symmetry, robbed 
of its indwelling holy soul, thrown on the mercy of 
material laws which He had created and man had out- 
raged ! That, then, is the end of all : Men whom He 
came to call to life had put Him to death! His 
slaughtered body hangs ruined and disfigured upon 
the tree, the once beauteous shrine of charity and 
truth is shorn of all its loveliness, the noble^ of the 
sons of men swings lifeless between two murderers ! 
O Mother of Jesus, Queen of martyrs, who shall sound 
the depths of thy agony ! 

The light of the sun was ^ill hazy and nebulous, 
the air had been sultry and oppressive when the earth 
trembled, but afterwards became unpleasantly chilly. 

Spite of its awful disfigurement there was about 
Our Lord's body an air of soul-touching holiness. 
The two thieves were silent, and Dismas was praying, 
but their bodies hung down in fearful drunken dis- 
tortions. Our Lord's friends and relatives sat or ^ood 
within the circle of the Cross, sorrowing and lamenting. 
Many of the holy women had returned into the city. — 
City and Hill were wrapped in a mantle of sadness, 
^illness and loneliness. 



299 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



The Dead Appear in Jerusalem. 
Elarthquake. 

When Jesus with loud cry commended His spirit 
into the hands of His Heavenly Father, I saw His soul 
sink luminously into the earth at the foot of the Cross, 
and with it a shining band of angels, among whom 
was Gabriel. These angels drove a great multitude 
of evil spirits from the earth back into the abyss, and 
Jesus sent many souls from Limbo back to earth, and 
into their bodies, in order to terrify and warn the un- 
repentant, and to give te^imony to Him before the 
world. 

Jeremias appeared at the altar in the Temple, 
and there spoke threatening words : The old sacrifice 
was at an end, the New Sacrifice had begun. Appear- 
ances known only to Caiphas and the prie^s were 
denied to have occurred, were kept secret, and forbid- 
den to be mentioned under pain of grievous excom- 
munication. But they could not conceal the clamorous 
noises within the Temple, the doors that sprang open 
unaided by men, the voice that proclaimed the words : 
"Let us leave this place." Hereupon I saw angels 
depart from the Temple. 

Annas, in secret Our Lord's mo^ bitter and ad:ive 
enemy, who had long been the guiding hand in the 
hidden campaign again^ Jesus and His disciples, who 
had in^rud:ed Our Savior's accusers how be^ to 
proceed, was now in the interior chambers of the 
Temple, fleeing, like one insane with terror, from one 
nook and comer into another. In a kind of closet 
surrounded by many of his adherents, I saw him like 
300 



Death of Jesus. 



one in convulsions, whimpering and twining and 
screciming and writhing. To calm and ^rengthen the 
terror-ilricken old man, Cephas threw his arms firmly 
round him — but all in vain. The sight of the dead 
come back to life had thrown him into bottomless 
despciir. 

Caiphas himself was full of con^ernation, but the 
proud, ^ubborn devil within him repressed every sign 
of terror. He was ready for the wor^, and met the 
warning portents of God and his own hidden anguish 
with the brazen brow of insolence and pride. He 
could not get the terrified prie^ to continue the 
sacred ceremonies, but he made them conceal all 
signs and appearances which the people themselves 
could not know. He proclaimed, and had other 
prie^ proclaim, that all these manife^ations of God's 
anger were due to the adherents of the crucified 
Galilean who had entered unclean into the Temple. 

Super^itious Pilate was bewildered with terror 
and unable to attend to his duties as governor. The 
earthquake shook his palace, he felt it rock and swing 
beneath him as he fled from one room to another. 
From the outer court-yard he heard the dead upbraid 
him for his unju^ proceedings and his self-contradict- 
ory sentence of death. He took them to be the gods 
of the prophet Jesus, and locked himself into the 
secret closet where he wsis wont to burn incense in 
sacrifice to his own gods, and where he now urged 
them by promises and vows to render the gods of the 
Galilean harmless. Herod, too, W2is beside himself 
with terror, and ordered his palace to be locked and 
bolted. 

301 



The Passion of Jesus C/inS. 



Joseph of Arimathea Begs Pilate 
for the Body of Jesus. 

I saw Joseph of Arimathea go to Pilate. He had 
been informed that Jesus was dead, and with Nicode- 
mus had determined to bury Our Lord*s body in his 
own new ^one-hewed grave in a garden of his that lay 
not far from Calvary. Nicodemus made his rounds 
among the shops to buy linens and spices for the 
burial, and was soon w^aiting for Joseph. 

Joseph found Pilate in con^ernation and confu- 
sion, but asked Him openly eind boldly for permission 
to take the body of Jesus, the King of the Jews, down 
from the Cross, as he wished to bury it in his own grave. 
Pilate's super^itious fear grew ^ill Wronger on hearing 
such a prominent man beg so earne^ly for permission 
to honor the body of one whom Pilate himself had 
so ignominiously crucified. He felt more keenly than 
ever the innocence of Jesus, but outwardly he pre- 
tended surprise and said: "Is he dead already?" 

Abenadar had reached the palace after speaking 
to the disciples in the caves. Pilate now sent for him, 
and inquired whether the *King of the Jews' was 
already dead. Abenadar narrated the details : Our 
Lord's la^ words, His loud cry, His death at three 
o'clock, the rocking of the earth and the burning of 
the rocks. Outwardly Pilate seemed to wonder that 
Jesus had died so soon, since crucified criminals gen- 
erally lived longer, but inwardly he felt new terror that 
the wondrous signs had happened ju^ when Our 
Lord died. Perhaps it was a desire to make his 
conduct look less cruel that now led him to write at 
once a document, saying that he gave the body of the 
302 



Death of Jesus. 



'King of the Jews' to Joseph of Arimathea, and that 
the latter was authorized to take the body from the 
Cross and bury it. 

Joseph left the palace and went to Nicodemus, 
who had bought a great amount of herbs and spices 
for the embalming. Joseph too paid a visit to some 
^ore and bought another piece of cotton cloth, six 
cubits long and several cubits wide, very beautiful 
and well-woven. 

Our Lord's Side Is Opened. 

Meanwhile sadness and ^illness reigned out there 
on Golgatha. The terrified multitude had dispersed. 
Our Lady, John, Magdalen, Mary of Cieophas and 
Salome sat or ^ood with heads muffled for sorrow^ in 
front of the Cross. Some soldiers were sitting on the 
low earthen wall, tlieir spears lying near them. While 
Cassius rode back and forth, the soldiers on the sum- 
mit talked down to their companions who were farther 
away. The sky was ^ill overeat, and all nature was 
in mourning. 

Six executioners now appeared, with ladders, 
shovels and ropes, and three-edged heavy clubs, 
intended to break the legs of those crucified. When 
they entered the enclosure. Our Lord's friends drew 
back a little way. Our Lady's soul was rent with new 
fear, leil these wretches maltreat even His dead body. 
And in fadl they planted their ladders again^ the 
Cross, climbed up, and ^ruck that sacred body, 
affirming that He merely pretended to be dead. But 
finding Him all cold and ^iff, and seeing John at the 
request of the holy women appeal to the soldiers, they 

303 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



went no further at present, yet did not seem con- 
vinced of his death. 

They turned from Our Lord to the two thieves, 
climbed up on the ladders, and began to break their 
bones. One broke the right arm above and below 
the elbow, a second did the same on the left arm, 
and a third, on the legs, both above and below the 
knee. Gesmas broke into fearful howls and they 
shattered his brea^ with three blows of their clubs. 
Dismas gave a la^ moan of agony, and died, the lir^l: 
mortal to follow Our Lord to Limbo. 

The executioners ^ill seemed in doubt as to Our 
Lord's death. Their shuddering barbarities towards 
the thieves made Our Savior's friends ^ill more 
apprehensive of their return. But Cassius, afterwards 
called Longinus, whose weak squinting eyes had 
often called forth the contempt of his companions, 
was at this moment ^ruck with a sudden impulse of 
grace. The vile-minded cruelties of the executioners 
and the anguish of the holy women combined with 
this sudden impulse of zeal to make him the fulfiller 
of a prophecy. He lengthened out his spear, which 
had been shortened by pushing its various parts one 
back into the other, and fa^ened the iron point upon 
it. I saw him turn his horse's head and drive the 
animal violently up the hillock of crucifixion, taking 
care to avoid the chasm in the rock. There was 
scarce room for his horse on top, but he paused 
between the Cross of Jesus and that of the good thief, 
to the right of Our Lord's body, seized his spear with 
both hands, and forced it violently into the hollow 
di^ended side and on through entrails and heart till 
304 



Death of Jesus. 



the point came forth and opened a slight wound on 
the left side of Our Savior's brea^. As with equal 
violence the now holy lance was dragged back out of 
the perforated body, it was followed by a full-flowing 
^eam of blood and water that poured a flood of 
grace and salvation down into his uplifted face. He 
sprang from his horse, fell upon his knees, beat his 
brea^, and in sight of all present loudly proclaimed 
his faith in Jesus. 

Our Lady and her companions, their eyes turned 
con^Eintly towards Jesus, watched with anxiety the 
sudden procedure of Cassius. When his lance passed 
into the sacred body, they gave a cry of woe and 
sprang forward to the Cross. Our Lady felt the blow 
in every fibre of her being, and sank as if the lance 
had pierced her own hesurt, into the supporting arms 
of her friends, while Cassius fell on his knees, his soul 
illumined by faith and light, his lips confessing the 
Lord and proclaiming thanks, while even his blear- 
eyed bodily vision grew bright and clear. 

And now all gathered, with reverential tender- 
ness, round the blood of the Redeemer, which was 
colleding in a depression in the rock beneath the 
Cross. It was mixed with water and covered with 
bubbling foam. By means of some kind of saucers 
which they had with them, Our Lady, Cassius, John 
and the holy women dipped mo^ of this precious 
liquid into flasks, and absorbed what remained into 
pieces of cloth. 

Cassius was completely transformed. His eyes 
both of soul and of body had been opened wide and 
clear, his heart was deeply moved and humbled. 

305 

20 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 

Struck by the miraculous change in their captain, the 
soldiers present likewise fell on their knees, beat their 
breads and confessed Jesus. Twas touching to see 
the blood and water poured in an abundant ^ream 
out from the wide-open right side of Jesus, to see it 
fall foaming upon a pure clean ^one, to see the holy 
company gather it up so tenderly, while into its sacred 
foam trickled tears from the eyes of Magdalen and 
Our Lady. The executioners did not return. They 
had meanwhile got word from Pilate not to touch the 
body of Jesus, since he had confided it to Joseph of 
Arimathea for burial. 

The Descent From the Cross. 

It was still foggy and dark and gloomy when 
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus reached the 
summit, where they were met by the servants whom 
they had sent on ahead. The holy women sat before 
the Cross weeping, while Cassius and several soldiers 
who had been converted ^ood at some di^ance silent 
and reverent. Joseph and Nicodemus narrated to 
Our Lady and John all they had done to deliver 
Jesus from an ignominious death, and heard from 
them in turn how they had, though with difficulty, 
hindered the breaking of His limbs and thus the 
prophecy had been fulfilled. They likewise told the 
^ory of the lance-thru^ of Cassius. Abenadar, too, 
had now arrived, and sadly and reverently they set 
about the loving task of taking down from the Cross 
and preparing for burial the sacred body of their Lord, 
their Ma^er, their Redeemer. 
306 



i 
I 

\ 

The Descent from the Cross. ] 

Our Lady and Magdalen sat on the hillock to the 
right of Our Lord, out towards the cross of Dismas. j 
The other holy women were busy in getting ready the ) 
necessary spices, sponges, pieces of cloth and vessels j 
of water. On seeing Abenadar approach, Cassius = 
drev/ nigh and told his former captain how wonder- 
fully his eyes had been healed. The entire holy \ 
company was bathed in a silent atmosphere of sad i 
and earned tenderness. Now and then, 'tis true, one • 
or the other, without relaxing in vigilance and atten- 
tion, broke out in burning sighs and lamentations. , 
Magdalen Eilone had surrendered altogether to grief. ; 
Lo^ in the violence of her emotions she could li^en j 
to no sugge^ion of moderation from anyone. j 

Nicodemus and Joseph planted their ladders ! 

again^ the rear of the Cross, chmbed upon them, ' 

passed the broad sheet between Our Lord's body and j 

the Cross, wrapped the sheet round the body, and \ 

then bound the body firmly to the Cross by three j 

broad ^raps which were attached to the sheet. In 1 

similar manner they passed pieces of cloth betv/een ! 

Our Lord's arms and the cross-beams, wrapped the i 

arms round, and bound them firmly to the beams. ] 

Hereupon they placed pegs against the points of the ^ 

nails behind and drove them out in front. Their \ 

blows did not shake Our Lord's hands very much, j 

and the nails fell out easily, because the di^ended j 

body on the one hand had torn the wounds wide open j 

and on the other was now supported, not by the hands, | 

but by the sheets that bound it. ! 

The lower part of the body, which had sagged ' 
down at the knees when He died, was now in a natural 

307 



i 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



position, supported by a sheet that was fa^ened to 
the cross-beams at the nail-holes for the hands. 
While Joseph was occupied in driving out the left 
nail and letting the left arm sink in its bandages 
gently down beside the body, Nicodemus on his side 
was similarly engaged in binding to the beam both 
the right arm and the thorn-crowned head, which was 
sunken down on the right shoulder. Then he, too, 
drove out the nail on his side, and let also the right 
arm sink in its bandages gently down beside the body. 
Meanwhile, with some exertion, Abenadar had driven 
the large nail up through the feet. As the nails fell 
to the ground, Cassius took them up reverently, and 
laid them together at the feet of Our Lady. 

And now they planted their ladders in front, 
quite close to the sacred body, climbed up again, 
unloosed the higher ^raps from the Cross and hung 
it over one of the hooks attached to the ladders. In 
the same way they unloosed the other two ^raps and 
fa^ened them to the hooks on the ladder. They 
then began the descent, moving the ^raps one by one 
to a lower hook and then to a ^ill lower, thus letting 
the sacred body little by little downwards. The cen- 
turion Abenadar, landing on a ^ool, was supporting 
Our Lord's body by cleisping it beneath the knees, 
while Joseph and Nicodemus held the upper body 
between them in their arms. Thus ^ep by ^ep, gently 
and carefully, cis though bearing a severely wounded 
friend, they slowly descended the ladders and laid 
the mart3nred body of the Redeemer on the ground. 

The whole scene was indescribably sad and 
beautiful. Every act was marked with caution and 
308 



The Descent from the Cross. 



tenderness, as though they feared to inflict new pain 
on His dead body. They showered upon the sacred 
remains the same love and reverence they had shown 
to the Mo^ Holy One during His life. Every eye 
was fixed Readily on the sacred body, its every motion 
Wcis followed with tears, with spontaneous out^retch- 
ing of hands that signified support and compassion. 
But all were ^ill and silent, speaking only when 
cooperation required it, and then briefly and in sub- 
dued tones, like men overpowered by reverence at a 
sacred ceremony in a temple. 

The ^rokes of the hammer in driving out the 
nails resounded with fresh sorrow in the souls of Our 
Lady and Magdalen, and of all who had been present 
at the crucifixion. They could not but recall the 
fearful nailing to the Cross, and likened again in 
trembling to His clear, sweet tones of lamentation, 
and seemed again to be awaiting in sadness His ap- 
proaching death, though His sacred lips were now 
silent. — As soon as the sacred body reached the 
ground, the men wrapped it in linen from the hips to 
the knees, and laid it into the eager out^retched arms 
of the Dolorous Mother. 

Our Lord's Body Prepared for BuriaL 

Our Lady sat on an outspread coverlet, her back 
supported by a bundle, which the women seem to 
have rolled together out of cloaks and mantles, in 
order to make it somewhat easier for the sorrow-worn 
Mother to render the la^ sad service of love to the 
body of her slaughtered Son. Her right knee was 
somewhat elevated, and the men laid the body down 

309 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



upon the sheet so as to bring Our Lord's head to 
re^ on His Mother's knee. Our Lady's grief is 
equalled only by her love, now that she can at la^ 
hold once more in her arms, lifeless though it be, that 
dear body during whose long martyrdom she has had 
to ^and by helpless. Here He is at la^, right under 
her eyes, in all His beautiful desolation. Lovingly, 
dolorously, her lips touch His bloody cheeks, and 
slowly from wound to wound her eyes glide tenderly 
over His lacerated form. 

In their degree all present shared her grief. 
Magdalen's face was pressed down on Our Lord's 
feet. A number of converted soldiers, Cassius at 
their head, ^ood reverently at a di^l:ance. The other 
men withdrew to a deeper lying mountain nook, 
southwejSl of the summit, to get everything in readi- 
ness for embalming the sacred body. All who were 
ill-disposed to Our Lord had returned into the city, so 
that those present formed a body-guard round the 
spot where the la^ honors were being paid to the 
sacred remains. While humbly keeping their di^ance 
the men were near enough when called upon to 
render loving service. 

The holy women surrounded the body somev/hat 
more closely, offering whenever necessary water 
flasks, sponges, cloths, ointments and spices, then 
Pepping back reverently to continue their loving 
vigilance. Among them were Mary of Cleophas, 
Salome and Veronica. Magdalen was con^antly 
occupied with the holy body itself. Mary of Heli, 
however, the elder si^er of Our Lady, a motherly 
matron and rather advanced in years, sat some di^ance 
310 



The Descent from the Cross. 



away on the earthen wall of the enclosure, absorbed 
in watching the scene. John was con^antly at Our 
Lady's beck and call, and adted as messenger between 
the women and the men. He assi^ed in so memy 
different ways, both here with the women, and after- 
wards with the men. Everything the women needed 
was ready. I noticed particularly water flasks of 
leather, which could be opened and laid flat together 
one on top of another, as also a vessel of water land- 
ing over glowing coals. One vessel of pure water 
after another, one sponge after another, the women 
offered to Our Lady and Magdalen, receiving back 
and squeezing into the flcisks those already used. 

Our Lady's indescribable agony did not make her 
less i^rong and courageous. * Though inundated with 
sorrow she could not leave that beloved body in such 
outraged condition, and at once set about her long 
and loving task. 

She opened the crown of thorns from behind, and 
began carefully, with the cissi^ance of her companions, 
to loosen it from His head. Some of the thorns had 

* Every year Siiter Catherine was accu^omed to follow Our 
Lord ^ep by ^ep through His Passion. On the evening of Good 
Friday March 30, 1820 the writer was present when Si^er was 
contemplating the Descent from the Cross. Suddenly she fell into 
death-like unconsciousness. On recovering, while she continued 
to suffer severely, she made the following declaration : "When 
I saw the body of Jesus lain on Mary's lap I said to myself : 'See 
how ^ong she is, she does not even fall unconscious.' I was 
expressing rather surprise than compassion. My guide chided me 
for my thought at once, and said: 'Feel then for thyself what she 
felt' At the same moment a cutting pain passed through me like 
a sword, throwing me into deathly agony — and I feel the pain 
ilill." And she continued to feel it for a long time, yea, it passed 
over into a severe sickness that brought her to the verge of the 
grave. 

311 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



pierced into His head, and had fir^ to be cut away 
from the crown, as otherwise every attempt to loosen 
the crown would have widened the wounds. They 
laid the crown to the nails, while Our Lady took a 
long, ela^ic, yellow-colored pciir of pincers and drew 
from Our Lord's head all the piercing points and 
slivers that ^ill remained, holding them up sadly to 
be gazed upon by her companions. The thorns were 
laid with the crown, at lea^ mo^ of them, some may 
have been kept as memorials. 

Our Lord's face was so bloody and disfigured as 
to be almo^ unrecognizable, and His dishevelled hair 
and beard were clotted with blood. Our Lady washed 
that pitiful head and face, loosened the congealed 
blood in His hair with a wet sponge. And ever as 
she proceeded in her work of love, ^ood out more 
clearly His awful martyrdom, ever as she passed from 
wound to wound grew deeper her compassion, and 
care, and tenderness. Her right hand holding a 
sponge and its fingers covered with a piece of cloth, 
she loosened and washed the blood out of the wounds 
in His head, out of the death-broken eyes, out of the 
no^rils, out of the ears. With cloth and index finger 
she cleansed the half-open mouth, the tongue, the 
teeth and the lips. She parted His hair between the 
right side and the back of His head and again be- 
tween the back and the left side, and on both sides 
brushed it back smooth behind the ears. Her task 
of cleansing concluded, she kissed His cheek and 
covered His head. 

And now her tender fingers wandered on over 
His neck, shoulders, breait and back, along His arms 
312 



The Descent from the Cross. 

and down to His blood-gained, lacerated hands. Oh, 
God, more shuddering than ever is now the desolation 
of ruin wreaked upon that beautihil hrame ! Behold 
that che^ with its di^ended and di^orted bones and 
joints ! That shoulder with its deep-ploughed wound ! 
That brea^ and back and arms heirrowed with 
scourges and ^ipes ! That little tell-tale wound above 
His heart to the left, and to the right below that awful 
gap where the heart-cleaving Ismce found entrance! 
On from one to the other glided the cleansing com- 
passionate fingers. Magdalen sometimes ^ood in 
front of Our Lady to render aid, but generally lay 
pro^rate at the feet of Jesus, washing them for the 
la^ time rather with her tears than with water, and 
wiping them with her hair. 

Our Lord's head, brea^, wai^, and limbs were 
now free from blood and filth, and the holy body lay 
peacefully in Mary's lap. His bloodless flesh shining 
bluish white in color, except clotted Gripes freaked 
it brown, or raw-peeled patches tinged it red. Ten- 
derly Our Lady now covered His sacred limbs, and 
begem to anoint His body wound by wound as before. 
The holy women knelt in succession before her, hold- 
ing open for her a little box filled with ointment or 
some similar precious sub^ance. Out of this box 
Our Lady kept the thumb and fore-finger of her right 
hand con^anly moi^ened till she had anointed all His 
wounds. How beautiful to see her take Our Lord's 
hands into her own left hand, kiss them reverently, and 
fill those gaping wounds with spicy ointment. The 
openings in His ears. His no^rils, the lance-wound in 
His side — all claimed in turn her loving mini^ra- 

313 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



tions. — Magdalen's service was given almo^ exclu- 
sively to Our Lord's sacred feet. Now she dried and 
anointed them, then moi^ened them again with her 
tears, often lying pro^rate for long at a time with her 
face reiting on them. 

I saw that they did not throw away the water 
when used but poured it into the leathern flasks. Oft- 
times I saw Cassius or some other soldier take the 
flasks or jars which the women had brought, and go 
to the well in Gihon to get fresh water. This well was 
quite near, so near that it could be seen from the 
Garden of the Sepulchre. 

Our Lady Closes Our Lord's Half -broken Eyes. 

After anointing all Our Lord's wounds, Our Lady 
swathed His head, but did not as yet draw down the 
ligatures over His face. Gently she pressed down the 
lids over those half-broken eyes, letting her hand reil 
softly on them for a while. Then she closed His mouth, 
embraced His sacred body, and let her weeping face 
sink sadly down upon His. Magdalen's reverence 
would not let her touch the face of Jesus, her own face 
re^ed on His holy feet. 

Joseph and Nicodemus had already been waiting 
for some time, and John now drew near Our Lady to 
beg her to give the precious body over to them so 
they might have it embalmed before the Sabbath 
commenced. Once more, ^ill more tenderly and 
lovingly, Our Lady embraced the martyred body and 
spoke touching words of farewell. Then by means 
of the sheet on which it lay the men lifted the body of 
314 



The Descent from the Cross. 



Jesus out of the lap of His Mother and carried it down 
to the spot chosen for embalming. Our Lady, who 
had felt some alleviation of agony in caring for and 
caressing those beloved remains, now sank back into 
the depths of sorrow and lay with muffled head red- 
ing in the arms of her companions. Magdalen, like 
one being robbed of her beloved, followed with out- 
^retched arms the men who were bearing Our Lord 
away, but turned after a few ^eps and came back to 
Our Lady. 

When the sacred body had been embalmed, John 
led Our Lady and the holy women to the spot. Our 
Lady knelt down at Our Savior's head, took from 
round her neck beneath her mantle a fine piece of 
linen, presented to her by Claudia Procles, and laid it 
under Our Lord's head. With her companions she 
piled the entire space between head and shoulders 
and round up to the cheeks with aromatic herbs, fill- 
ing in all crevices with delicate fibers and fine pow^der, 
then wrapped the underlying fine piece of linen round 
head and shoulders so that they were imbedded in 
this sweet-scented cushion. Magdalen poured a full 
flask of fragrant perfume into the wound in the side, 
and the other holy women put aromatic herbs into 
the hands and round and beneath His feet. Then 
with sweet spices the men filled in the arm-pits, over- 
laid the cavity about the heart, and rounded out 
every depression of the entire body. Hereupon they 
crossed the ^ffened arms upon the bosom, and 
fa^ened the fragrant layers of spices and perfume by 
wrapping the large white sheet firmly round the body 
as high as the brea^, ju^ as one would swathe a 

315 



The Passion of Jesus CfiriSl. 



child. Then they laid the body upon the six-cubits- 
long sheet, bought by Joseph, folded one of the lower 
ends up over the brea^, one of the upper ends down 
over head and shoulders, and wrapped the two sides 
inwards round the body. 

While they knelt thus round the body, weeping 
and saying farewell, a mo^ touching miracle took 
place before their eyes. On the outer surface of the 
sheet that covered it there appeared, reddish-brown 
in color, the entire figure of the body with all its 
wounds as if Our Lord was anxious to show His 
gratitude for their loving care and compassion by 
letting His pid:ure shine out to them through all its 
wrappings. Weeping and lamenting they embraced 
the sacred body and kissed with reverence that 
wonderful impression. A^onishment made them un- 
wrap the outer sheet once more, and that a^onishment 
grew ^ill deeper when they found all other wrappings 
as white as ever, and only the outer sheet marked 
with Our Lord^s figure. 

Upon the sheet below where Our Lord lay were 
imprinted the full outlines of His back, while the 
form of His body in front ^ood out above. But as 
here in front several different corners and edges over- 
lay one another, the sheet, in order to show Our Lord^s 
figure, had to be folded ju^ as it had been when 
wrapped round the body. This pidture did not arise 
naturally from contadt with Our Lord's wounds, since 
these were deeply imbedded in spices and thickly 
wrapped in bandciges. It was a miraculous impres- 
sion created by the Godhead which remained hypo- 
ilatically united even to the dead body of the Savior. 
316 



Our Lord's Burial. 



Our Lord's Burial. 

The men had a leather-covered bier, and upon 
this they now laid the sacred body. The body upon 
the bier reminded me forcibly of the Ark of the 
Covenant. Nicodemus and Joseph, Abenadar and 
John, carried the bier, the two former in front, the 
two latter at the rear, lifting it by the projedling ends 
of two rods. They were followed by Our Lady, Mary 
of Heli, Magdalen, and Mary of Cleophas, in one 
group, then by the other group of women who had 
sat at a di^ance : Veronica, Joanna of Chusa, Mary 
of Mark, Salome of Zebedee, Mary Salome, Salome 
of Jerusalem, Susannci, and finally Anna, a niece of 
St. Joseph, a daughter of his brother, who had been 
reared in Jerusalem. Cassius and his soldiers closed 
the procession. Singing songs in soft, lamenting 
tones they moved about seven minutes down the 
valley to the Garden of the Sepulchre. 

Opposite the entrance to the sepulchre the women 
sat down on a bench, while the men carried the body 
down into the interior, set it on the ground, made 
with spices an oblong mound about two feet high 
and spread over it a sheet in such manner that its 
folds swung down over the sides. Upon this couch 
they reverently deposited the sacred body, said fare- 
well with loving tears cind embraces, and Pepped out 
of the sepulchre. Our Lady now went in to her Son, 
and I saw her sit down at the head of the couch 
whereon He lay, and leein weeping over the body of 
her Child. 

While returning home Joseph and Nicodemus 

317 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



were met by Peter, James the Greater, and James the 
Less. All were in tears, but Peter was the mo^ vio- 
lent in his grief. He embraced the two friends sadly, 
accused himself bitterly, lamented he had not been 
present when Our Lord died, and thanked them 
earne^ly for the sepulchre wherein they had buried 
Him. Heartbroken they separated, going to seek 
other scattered disciples, having fir^ made an agree- 
ment to be admitted into the Supper Room on their 
arrival. 

Later on I saw Our Lady and her company 
knock and find admittance at the door of the Supper 
Room. Abenadar, too, was allowed to enter, others 
came in gradually, till mo^ of the Apo^les and 
disciples were again present. The holy women went 
apart into the rooms reserved for Our Lady. All 
partook of a little nourishment and spent then some 
more minutes in deep sorrow. 

Twas late in the evening when Joseph of 
Arimathea with some other disciples and women left 
the Supper Room to go home. Whil^ they wandered 
silently and sadly through the ways of Sion, suddenly, 
in the neighborhood of the court-house of Caiphas, a 
band of armed men rushed out of ambush and seized 
Joseph of Arimathea. His companions fled with a 
cry of terror, while his captors imprisoned him in a 
tower that rose out the city wall not far from the court- 
house. Caiphas had gotten pagan soldiers to do this 
work, as pagans did not observe the Sabbath. His 
plan was to let Joseph ^arve to death, and to keep 
silent as to how he had disappeared. 



318 



Another Good Friday Scene. 



Another Good Friday Scene. 

Jonadab's Act of Mercy Rewarded. 

After presenting Our Lord with the cloth for His 
loins, Jonadab, the nephew of St. Joseph, hurried 
from Golgotha back to the Temple. But the sacrifice 
of the Pachal lamb was interrupted by the darkness, 
the earthquake, and the appearance of the dead; he 
ha^ened to return home where he had little children, 
a sick mother, and a sick wife. As he ha^ened 
along, I saw that a great change had come over his 
soul. Formerly he had shown little intere^ in Our 
Lord's teaching and manner of living, ju^ as his 
father before him, a ^ep-brother of St. Joseph 1 think, 
had manife^ed no special inclination for Our Savior. 

But now I saw how, to his great a^onishment, 
Jonadab was met half-way home by his mother, wife 
and children, all sound and healthy. He could not 
believe his eyes, they had been quite sick when he 
left them. I saw how they embraced him and told 
him in what wonderful manner they had been healed. 
Shortly after midday a woman of maje^ic appearance 
had entered the house and Pepped in front of their 
couches, saying : "Arise, and go to meet Jonadab, he 
has covered a naked man's exposure." Immediately 
they had felt a feeling of health all through their 
sick bodies, and had risen up in renewed ^rength in 
order to render due thsmks and honor to this won- 
derful woman. But when they went to set food and 
drink before her, she disappeared, leaving the whole 
house bathed in a delicious odor, while they them- 
selves felt fully satisfied and satiated. Reflecting on 

319 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



her words they had set out to meet him, let him now 
say what naked man he had clothed. 

Amid tears and Iciments Jonadab now told the 
^ory of the crucifixion of Jesus, said that Jesus, Son 
of Joseph and Mary, was the Prophet, the Chri^, the 
Holy One of Israel. His words made them all sad, 
they rent their garments and wept. Yet they blessed 
God, too, who in return for that simple work of love 
had granted them such a signal boon. They went 
on to speak of the great signs of the day in heaven 
and on earth, and returned home overwhelmed with 
emotion. 

While his wife was telling Jonadab of the won- 
derful cure, I myself saw in a vision the apparition in 
her house. Who it was that appeared I do not know 
for certain, I have a dull feeling that it was Our Lady. 
I likewise saw how later on Jonadab, after completing 
his eirrangements, joined the community of believers. 

While Our Lady, in a deep feeling of thankful- 
ness, was calling down God's blessing on Jonadab 
and his family, I saw in vision how her prayers were 
heard, how Jonadab was interiorly illumined by faith 
in Our Lord, and how his sick family received the 
blessing in that wonderful apparition. 

Guards Stationed at the Sepulchre. 

During the night I saw Caiphas and the other 
Jewish authorities in consultation as to what they 
should do to offset the tremendous impression made 
upon the people by the wonderful events of the after- 
noon. As a result of their deliberation they went to 
320 



Another Good Friday Scene. 



Pilate that very night, told him they had remembered 
how that seducer had said while he was yet alive that 
he would rise again on the third day, and requeued 
him to have the sepulchre gusurded until that third 
day, le^ the seducer's disciples should ^eal the body 
and spread a report that he had risen from the dead 
and thus the second deception become worse than 
the fir^. 

But Pilate did not wish to be bothered with the 
matter hirther. "You have a guard of your own," he 
said, "go and guard his grave as you be^ can." Still 
he ordered Cassius to accompsmy the guards, to ob- 
serve eJl that would happen, and bring report to 
himself. 

On arriving at the sepulchre the Jewish authori- 
ties fir^ made sure that the body was really within, 
then they fetched a band across the door of the 
sepulchre and from this another down to the projedl- 
ing ^one below, fastening a crescent-shaped seal over 
the spot where the two bands crossed. This done 
they went back into the city, and the guards took up 
their positions in front of the outer door of the sepul- 
chre. Sometimes five were on guard, sometimes 
six, as one or the other had to go into the city for 
food. Cassius never left his po^. Generally he ^ood 
or sat in the trench in front of the sealed door, in such 
attitude that he could see that side of the closed grave 
where lay the feet of Our Savior. He had edready 
received great interior graces, and now, during these 
hours of watching, God deigned to grant him many 
spiritual visions of hidden my^eries. As he was quite 
unaccu^omed to such conditions of soul, this won- 

321 

21 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



derful inner illumination made him seem drunk with 
spiritual joy and unconscious of outward events. 
Twas these long hours of sorrow, gratitude and ado- 
ration that completely transformed him into a new 
man. 

The Day before the Resurrection. 

Our Lord's Friends on Holy Saturday. 

Ye^erday evening, when all the men had gath- 
ered into the Supper Room, I saw them, about twenty 
in number, attired in long white garments and girded 
about the wai^. I saw them ^and beneath an over- 
hanging lamp to celebrate the Pasch and then sit 
down to table. Hereupon they separated for the 
night, some of them going to other dwellings. And 
today, too, I saw mo^ of them in the Supper Room, 
each remaining quietly with himself for the mo^ part, 
though now and then they came together to pray and 
read, or one or the other went to the door to admit 
new-comers. ^ : 

In the house where dwelt Our Lady there was a 
large sissembly-room with many nooks and corners. 
Several of these, divided off by heavy curtains or 
partitions, served as bed-rooms. On returning from 
Golgotha the holy women fir^ replaced all vessels 
and utensils they had been using, then they gathered 
for devout and sorrowful prayer round Our Lady in 
the centre of this large saloon, beneath an overhang- 
ing lamp which one of them had lighted. Hereupon 
they took some little refreshment. A band of new- 
comers now appeared: Martha, Maroni, Dina and 
322 



The Day before the Resurrection. 

Mara, who had come in hrom Bethania before the 
Sabbath, accompcinied by Lazarus who W2is now gone 
to the Supper Room to join the men. Till a late 
hour they remained together, mingled their teeirs eis 
they told or likened how Our Lord had died and been 
buried. Then Joseph of Arimathea and some other 
men sent word to the women who were to return to 
their homes elsewhere in the city, and the two com- 
panies broke up for the night. While returning with 
his band, Joseph, as I have already related, was torn 
from them near the court-house of Caiphas, w£is 
dragged away and imprisoned in the tower. 

The women who remained in the assembly-room 
now sepe^ated, each retiring into one of the improvised 
row of cells around the large saloon. When within 
their bed-rooms they wrapped a long flowing piece of 
cloth round the head, and sat for a while in silent grief 
on the floor, supporting themselves by the blcinkets 
rolled up again^ the wall. Then they rose, unrolled 
the blsmkets, laid ciside sandals and girdle cind some 
other articles of clothing, enveloped themselves from 
head to foot as was their cu^om, and laid themselves 
down on the out^retched couches for a short period 
of sleep. Short, because after midnight they rose 
again, folded their couches, gathered again beneath 
the Icimp round Our Lady cind began to pray with 
one cmother alternately. 

Our Lady Goes to the Temple. 

While Our Lady and her companions were ^ill 
engaged in this nightly tribute of prayer there came 
a knock at the door. John was there, with some of 

323 



The Passion of Jesus ChriR. 



the disciples. Our Lady and the women drew on 
their veils and cloaks and followed the disciples to 
the Temple. 

It was ju^ about the time when the grave was 
sealed, three o'clock in the morning, when Our Lady, 
the holy women, John, and several disciples reached 
the Temple. Every year after the eating of the 
P£ischal lamb the Temple was opened at midnight, 
because next morning sacrifices began very early and 
mamy Jews were wont to come there at day-break. 
But today, by reason of the interrupted fe^ival and 
the desecration of the holy places, everything was in 
negledl and disorder, and it seemed to me Our Lady 
simply intended to bid farewell to the beloved House 
of God, the spot where she had spent her youth, 
worshipping towards the Holy of Holies, until she 
herself bore in her own womb the real Holy of Holies, 
the real Ea^er Lamb, slaughtered so cruelly yester- 
day on the Hill beyond the walls. The Temple, 
indeed, as usual ^ood open to the people and 
illuminated by lamps, even as far in as the court of 
the prie^s, which on the day after the Pasch was 
likewise thrown open to the multitude. But, with the 
exception of a few guards and servants, the Temple 
was almo^ entirely deserted. General disorder and 
desolation revealed the terrible di^urbance of ye^er- 
day. The presence of the dead had profaned the 
Temple, and made it unclean, and ever as I gazed at 
the sight I could not but ask: "How will they ever 
remedy the ruin?" 

Followed by her companions Our Lady visited 
every spot made holy by her Son. And at each of 
324 



The Day before the Resurrection. 



these sacred spots she threw herself on the ground, 
pressed her lips to it, shed tender tears, and spoke a 
few touching words of commemoration. And her 
companions followed her exeunple. 

The devotion of the Jews for places where some- 
thing they think holy happened is extraordinary. 
They touch them and kiss them reverently, eind 
throw themselves down on them with their faces to 
the ground. I never could feel a^onishment at this 
practice. As we know and believe and feel that the 
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a living God, 
that He dwelt among^ His people in the Temple, His 
Holy House in Jerusalem, we would rather have 
reason for a^onishment if they did not thus show 
their reverence. One who believes in a living God, in 
One who is Father and Savior and Scmdlifier of men. 
His children, such a one cannot wonder that the 
living God dwells with His living children, and that 
these children have more love, honor and adoration 
for their Heavenly Father and all that tells of Him 
th£m for earthly parents, friends, teachers, superiors 
or princes. In the Temple and similar holy places 
the Jews behaved somewhat as we do before the 
Blessed Sacrament. 

But already among the Jews there were men 
like those among^ us — men of self-illimiinated blind- 
ness, who will not adore the living, all-present God 
but render super^tious worship to the idols of the 
world. These men have no regard for the words of 
Jesus: "He that denieth Me before men, him also 
wiU I deny before My Father who is in Heaven." 
These men, whose thoughts, words and deeds are an 

325 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



unbroken round of service in honor of the untruthful 
spirit of the world, — these men, if they have not ca^ 
God aside altogether as something external and un- 
real, at lea^ rejedl all external worship, di^orting the 
words of Our Savior : "We adore God in spirit and 
truth." They do not know that the words *in spirit' 
mean in the Holy Gho^, that the words *in truth' 
mean in the Son, who became man and was born of 
the Virgin Mary in order to give te^imony to the 
truth, who died for us on the Cross and yet in the 
Mo^ Blessed Sacrament remains with His Church, 
the pillar of truth, even unto the consummation of 
the world. 

From one holy spot to another Our Lady led her 
companions round the sacred precindts of the Tem- 
ple. She showed them the spot on which she herself 
had fir^ set foot when presented as a little girl in the 
Temple, and the rooms on the southern side where 
she had been reared till her espousals. She led them 
to v/here she had been espoused to St. Joseph, where 
she had offered her little Jesus, where Simeon and 
Anna had pronounced the prophecy. Here she wept 
bitterly, feeling the prophecy now accomplished and 
the sword quivering in her heart. She showed them 
where she had found the Boy teaching in the Temple, 
and kissed reverently the chair on which He had sat. 
She led them likewise to the trezisury into which the 
widow had ca^ her mite, and to the place where Jesus 
had pardoned the woman taken in adultery. And 
when they had poured out on every spot sandlified 
by Our Lord their tribute of memory, and touch, and 
tear, and prayer, they left the Temple and returned to 
326 



The Day before the Resurrection. 

Mount Sion. Amid many silent tears, and with a feel- 
ing of earned, solemn sadness Our Lady parted from 
the deserted Temple, whose ^ate of desolation, height- 
ened by contra^ with the holiness of the day, gave 
te^imony to the sin of her people. She recalled to 
mind the time when Jesus wept over the Temple, and 
the words of prophecy He had once spoken: "De- 
^oy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up." 
That prophecy, too, was soon to be fulfilled. They 
had de^royed the Temple of His body, and she felt 
a great longing for the third day on which the word 
of eternal Truth wcis to be accomplished. 

From now on till evening I saw the holy women 
again collected behind closed doors £md covered 
windows in the dark assembly-room illumined only 
by the light of the overheinging lamp. Now they 
gathered beneath the lamp to pray with Our Lady, 
now they retired singly to their partitioned cells, where 
they either sat down on ash-^rewn che^ to mourn, or 
turned their faces to the wall to pray. Before going 
from their cells to join Our Lady beneath the lamp I 
saw them eilways lay their mcintles of mourning aside. 
I likewise saw those delicate of health take some little 
nourishment, while the others fci^ed. 

The Evening Before the Resurrection. 

While Our Lady was absorbed in inner prayer, 
longing so intensely for Jesus, I saw an angel draw 
nigh and tell her to go forth to the little gate of 
Nicodemus — the Lord was approaching! Mary's 
heart thrilled with joy, she folded herself in her man- 

327 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



tie, and left the holy women without saying a word 
to emyone about her intention. I saw her ha^ening 
all alone towards that small gate in the city wall by 
which she and her company had reentered from the 
Garden of the Sepulchre. 

It mu^ have been about nine o'clock in the 
evening when I saw her pursuing her rapid way in 
the neighborhood of the gate. Suddenly she ^ood 
^ill. Her eyes lighted with joyous expedlation as she 
gazed upwards at the high wall. Then I saw the soul 
of Jesus, without the ^igmata, shining with light, and 
surrounded by a great multitude of souls, sweep 
downwards to Mary. Turning to the souls of the 
patriarchs and pointing to Our Lady, Jesus spoke the 
words : "Mary, My Mother." And it seemed to me 
He embraced her and then disappeared. Our Lady 
sank to her knees, and kissed the spot where He had 
^ood. The marks of her knees and feet remained 
impressed in the ^one, and she felt an indescribable 
feeling of consolation as she ha^ened back to the 
holy women. She found them at a table occupied in 
preparing ointments and spices. She spoke not a 
word of what had happened, but her ^rong sense of 
consolation gave new ^rength and confidence to her 
companions. 

Joseph of Arimathea Delivered from Prison. 
Soon after the return of Our Lady to the holy 
women I saw Joseph of Arimathea at prayer in his 
dungeon. Suddenly the dungeon was flooded with 
light and I heard his name called. I looked up, and 
saw the massive ^one open and the roof lift itself as 
328 



The Day before the Resurrection. 

it were from the WeJI, while through the opening a 
luminous figure let down a long ^rip of cloth and 
commanded Joseph to climb. I saw Joseph grasp 
the ^rip with both hands, brace his feet again^ one 
projedling ^one after another in the dungeon wall, 
and thus climb something like double a man's height 
to the opening in the roof, which closed again as soon 
as he passed through. When he reached the top I 
saw that the apparition had disappeared. Whether 
this liberating figure wais Our Lord or only an angel, 
I know not. 

I saw Joseph run unobserved upon the wall till 
he was near the Supper Room, which lies close to the 
southern wall round Mount Sion. Here he descended 
from the wall and knocked. The doors were locked. 
The disciples had been sore afflidled by Joseph's dis- 
appearance. On the news of his capture they con- 
cluded he mu^ have been thrown into some deep 
sewer. So their joy now on opening the door and 
seeing him enter was as great as it was later on when 
Peter came to them after his deliverance from prison. 
Joseph related the apparition that had freed him, at 
which they felt great joy and consolation and gratitude 
towards God. They gave him some food, and he 
fled the same night from Jerusalem to Arimathea. 
Later on he received word that there was no longer 
any danger for him, so he returned to Jerusalem. 

The Night Before the Resurrection. 
The fire-pans in front of the sepulchre ca^ a 
glaring brightness out into the darkness of night 
when my contemplating soul drew near to adore the 

329 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



sacred body. It lay there unchanged, bathed in 
glorious light, one angel at the head, another at the 
feet, both fixed there in silent adoration ever since he 
had been laid in the grave. Their shining prie^-like 
figures, with their arms crossed on their breads, 
reminded me of the Cherubim on the Ark of the 
Covenant except that I did not see them have wings. 

While I gcized in adoring contemplation I seemed 
to see the soul of Our Lord draw near at the head of 
the redeemed spirits of the Old Law, enter through 
the rock into the tomb, and show to His followers 
the price of their redemption. All bindings and 
wrappings seemed Gripped away in a moment, I saw 
the sacred body full of wounds, and the indwelling 
Godhead seemed to reveal before those reverent 
spirits the fearful martyrdom that had redeemed 
them. The body was entirely transparent, and its 
deeped depths of pain and anguish and sorrow lay 
unveiled. Those redeemed spirits gazed in unutter- 
able reverence, and seemed to tremble and v/eep 
with compassion. 

Our Lady on the Way of the Cross. 

About eleven o'clock that night Our Lady's love 
and longing would not let her re^ indoors. She 
arose, folded her entire figure in a grey mantle, and 
went forth alone. "How can she," I thought, "how can 
the anguished broken-hearted Mother go forth alone 
at this time, at this hour?" Still I saw her go sadly 
to the house of Caiphas, and from there to the Palace 
of Pilate, which lies a long way back into the city. 
Further ^ill I saw her go, the full length of the Way 
330 



The Day before the Resurrection. 

of the Cross, all alone through the desolate streets, 
topping at every spot sandlified by some special pain 
of Jesus. She seemed to be searching for something 
she had lo^. Often she threw herself on her knees, 
moved her searching hand tenderly over the ^ones 
and carried it then to her mouth, as if her fingers had 
touched the enshrined blood of Jesus and carried 
some of its fragrance to her caressing lips. Along 
the whole way she was absorbed in an elevated super- 
natural state of loving adoration, and all the holy 
traces of Jesus around her shone clear and luminous 
to her eye. I followed her the entire distance, and in 
my own poor way felt what she felt and did what 
she did. 

When in this manner she had come nigh to 
Calvary, she paused, and 1 saw appear before her a 
vision of Our Lord's martyred body. Before Him 
marched one angel, at either side one of the two 
adoring angels of the grave, and behind Him a great 
multitude of redeemed souls. He made no gesture, 
and looked like a wandering corpse in a ^ream of 
light Yet I heard go forth from Him a voice that 
announced to His Mother what He had done in Limbo, 
that He would now rise again to life in a transfigured 
body, that she should wait for Him at the ^one near 
Calvary where He had fallen, that there He would 
come to meet her. I saw the apparition of Jesus 
pass on into the city and Our Lady, mantled and 
veiled, kneel down to pray at the spot appointed by 
Jesus. By this time it mu^ have been pa^ twelve 
o'clock, since Mary had moved but slowly edong the 
Way of the Cross. 

331 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



And now I saw Our Lord and His army likewise 
wander the full length of the Way of the Cross. And 
as they went the redeemed souls beheld the long 
course of Our Lord*s agony, while the angels in some 
my^erious manner colIe<5led along the way all the 
scattered portions that had in those long hours been 
torn from His sacred body. On from one scene to 
another they glided, through the city and up the 
mount, till they saw Him nailed to the Cross, and 
raised on high, and pierced with the lance, and taken 
down from the Cross, and embalmed for burial. And 
from the spot where she waited Our Lady's eyes 
followed with ^eady geize of loving adoration the 
triumphant meirch of her crucified Son. 

And now the eye of contemplation beheld Our 
Lord's body lie once more in His grave as before, 
only that all the sacred particles lo^ during the Passion 
had now by the angels been my^eriously restored to 
it. I saw Him ju^ as before : Wrapped in the grave- 
clothes, bathed in glorious light, adored by two angels, 
one at His feet, the other at His head. How I saw 
all this I am unable to say. Reason, accu^omed to 
the ordinary course of events, finds the objedl of those 
visions too varied and manifold and indescribable. 
While I adtually contemplate, everything is clear, dis- 
tinct and intelligible, but when I look back now it all 
becomes so dark and obscure that I cannot give it 
expression. 

The fir^ white breaks of light were creeping 
across the morning sky, when I saw Magdalen, Mary 
of Cleophas, Johanna of Chusa and Salome wrap 
themselves closely in their mantles, and set forth from 

332 



Our Lord's Resurre6Hon. 



the house of the La^ Supper. Concealed beneath 
their mantles one of them carried a burning light, 
the others bundles of spices. These spices consi^ed 
partly of living flowers to be ^rewn on the body, 
partly of the dialled sap and oil of various aromatic 
sub^£mces. The holy women were very timid and 
afraid when I saw them going towards the little gate 
of Nicodemus. 

Our Lord's Resurrection. 

I saw the soul of Jesus descend through the rocks 
upon His holy body, sweeping down from above in 
the form of a large figure of luminous splendor, 
moving between two warlike angels (those in the 
grave were robed like prices) and surrounded by a 
multitude of lightsome figures. Down it swept till it 
reached the body, then bent lovingly over it and 
melted into it, the encased members began to move, 
and I saw the living body, shining with the light of 
the Soul and the Godhead, come forth through the 
funeral wrappings as if through the wound in the side. 
It reminded me of Eve rising from the side of Adam. 
The whole scene shone with light and beauty and 
brightness. 

And now before my contemplating soul a mon- 
^rous shape wriggled its way from the depths up till 
it held the Tomb in its coils. Its infernal rage was 
aimed at Our Lord, its serpentine tail ^ood upreared, 
its dragon-head balanced for battle. Besides this 
dragon-head I remember it had also a human head. 
But rising out of Our Lord's hand I saw a slender 

333 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§i. 



white-colored flag-^aff, from which was flung out a 
floating banneret. And He went near that head of 
dragon, and ^ruck the serpent-tail three blows with 
the flag-^aff, and at every blow the monger shrivelled 
and shrank away till finally it disappeared, till the 
dragon-head was driven into the earth and only the 
human head remained. 

This vision I have often beheld when contempla- 
ting the Resurredtion. Likewise at Our Lord's con- 
ception in His Mother's womb I saw a similar 
dragon-like serpent lying in wait. It was ^ill more 
horrible than the serpent in Paradise, of which it 
always put me in mind. The vision refers, I think, 
to the prophecy: "The Woman's Seed shall crush 
the serpent's head." It seemed to me a symbol of 
the vidlory over death, for while gazing at the crushing 
of the dragon's head I could not see the tomb of 
Our Lord. 

But now I saw the shining figure of Our Lord float- 
ing through the ^ony walls. The earth began to quake. 
Like lightning from heaven a warlike angel swept 
down to the tomb, rolled the ^one away to the right 
and sat upon it. The concussion roundabout was so 
great that the fire-pans began to tumble and the flames 
sprang forth and leaped around. The guards on 
watch fell dunned at their po^s, and lay ^iff and dis- 
torted as if dead. The extraordinary brightness aston- 
ished Cassius, but he gathered himself quickly to- 
gether, hurried to the tomb, opened the door a little, 
put in his hand, and found the empty funeral wrap- 
pings. He Parted away to inform Pilate, but lingered 
for a while in the neighborhood waiting for something 
334 



Out Lord's Resurredtion. 

else. For he had so far noticed only the earthquake, 
the angel as it rolled away the ^one and sat down 
upon it for a moment, and finally the empty grave — 
he had not seen Jesus. Partly from him, partly from 
the guards, the disciples learned all these wonderful 
events. 

But in the very moment when the earth quaked 
eind the angel swept to the tomb, I saw the Risen 
Lord appear to His Mother at the spot near Calvary 
where she awaited Him. 'Twas a vision of wondrous 
beauty and solemnity and brightness. His garment 
v/as flung like some great mantle round His transfig- 
ured frame, and floated out behind Him, playing 
gently in the breeze like a smoky trail of blue, gleam- 
ing white in the rays of the sun. His wounds shone 
large and bright, into His hands one might well put 
nis finger. In appearance they reminded me of 
triangles of equal sides incribed into a circle at the 
center of His hand, from which point rays of light ran 
out to His fingers. The souls of the patriarchs bent 
low before the Mother, and Our Lord spoke a word, 
I forget what, about meeting again. He pointed to 
His wounds, but as she sank down to kiss His feet. 
He took her by the hand, raised her to her feet — and 
disappeared. 

The Holy Women at the Tomb. 

The holy women were in the neighborhood of 
the gate of Nicodemus when Our Lord rose from the 
grave. They noticed nothing of the signs that accom- 
peinied His Resurred:ion. Nor did they know that 
guards were at the tomb, for on the Sabbath no friend 

335 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



had been out there on Calvary and they had them- 
selves spent the day at home in sadness and seclu- 
sion. They asked one another anxiously : "Who will 
roll back for us the large ^one kom the entrance of 
the tomb?" In their grief and eagerness to show 
honor to our Lord's body, this had not occurred to 
them before. Their intention had been to pour pre- 
cious ointments upon the body of Jesus and to ^rew 
aromatic spices and flowers over it. They were anx- 
ious to offer for the body of their Lord and Ma^er 
the mo^ co^ly they could get. Salome, a rich lady 
of Jerusalem, a relative of St Joseph, contributed a 
great part of these precious ointments. The holy 
women now decided to put down their spices on the 
^one of the sepulchre, and mourn there until per- 
chance one of the disciples might come along cind 
roll back the ^one. And so they proceeded on their 
way to the garden. 

I saw the guards ^ill Ijring on the ground uncon- 
scious, cind as though in convulsions. The large ^one 
was ca^ to one side so that the door could now easi- 
ly be opened. I could see the linen cloths in which 
the body of Jesus had been wrapped. The larger 
winding-sheet lay there in the same position as before, 
containing nothing but the herbs and spices; the 
bandage which had been wound around the sheet lay 
on the front edge of the tomb unrolled, as though it 
had been juil Gripped off; the cloth which Mary had 
folded round His sacred head, lay separately to the 
right, in the same position as when the head had lain 
in it, except the face covering was turned back. 

I now saw the women draw near the garden 

336 



Our Lord's ResurreSlion. 



and enter it all together. As anxious and cautious 
they Pepped on into the ante-chamber they saw 
the two angels of the tomb landing before them in 
prie^ly robes, white and shining. One of the angels 
spoke to them as follows: "Fear not, seek not here the 
Crucified One, He is alive, He is risen. He is no long- 
er a dweller in the tomb." He showed them the emp- 
ty tomb, and commanded them to tell the disciples 
what they had seen and hecird. Jesus would go be- 
fore them into Galilee. He likewise recalled to their 
minds what Our Savior had told them on a former 
occasion : "The Son of Man will be delivered into 
the hands of sinners. He will be crucified, and the 
third day rise again." The angels then disappeared 
and the holy women trembling, yet filled with joy, 
looked at the empty tomb and the linen cloths, and 
weeping started to return to the city. But they were 
so overcome by what they had seen and heard, that 
they walked very slowly and often topped to look 
back, hoping that Our Lord might appear to them. 

But about ten ^eps eastward from the rocky 
tomb, along the slopes of the garden as it ascended 
towards the city, Magdalen caught a twilight glimpse 
of a tall, white-clothed figure. Hearing the words: 
"Woman, why weepe^ thou ? Whom seeke^ thou ?" 
she thought it mu^ be the gardener. And really the 
figure had a shovel in its hand, and a flat low hat, 
something like a ^rip of bark over the eyes to keep 
off the sun. It was ju^ like the geurdener described in 
the parable which shortly before His Passion Our 
Lord had spoken to the women in Bethania. Nor 
was the figure luminous and shining, it was simply 

337 

* 22 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



that of a man in a long white garment seen through 
the indi^indt twilight. 

To the words: "Whom seekest thou," she anwered 
at once: "Sir, if thou hast taken Him away, tell me 
where, and I will take Him." Even while saying the 
words, she kept searching where the gardener might 
have laid her beloved One. Then in His own well- 
known voice Jesus said to her: "Mary". That voice 
made her forget all — crucifixion, death and burial. 
She turned to Him on the instant with her usual greet- 
ing: "Raboni" (Meister), fell on her knees before Him, 
and Wretched her eager arms to embrace His feet. 
But Jesus raised His hand in loving refusal and said : 
"Touch Me not! I have not yet ascended to My 
Father. But go to My brethren and say to them : I 
ascend Ito My Father and your Father, to My God 
and to your God." With this la^ word Jesus dis- 
appeared. 



338 



The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
According to 
the Four Evangelists. 

There is a praiseworthy pradtice to read the four Passion 
Gospels during the holy Lenten time as also at Mass during Holy 
Week while the prieil is reading the Passion at the eltax. For this 
reason these touching records of Our Lord's suffering are here 
appended. On Palm Sunday the Passion according to St Matthew 
is read; on Tuesday, according to St. Mark; on Wednesday, 
according to St. Luke; on Friday, according to St. John. 

For Palm Sunday. 

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 

Chapter xxvi. 

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended all 
these words, He said to his disciples ; 

You know that after two days shall be the psisch, 
and the Son of man shall be delivered up to be cru- 
cified : 

Then were gathered together the chief prieils 
and gmcients of the people into the court of the high- 
prieit, who was called Caiphas : 

And they consulted together, that by subtilty they 
might apprehend Jesus and put Him to death. 

But they said : Not on the festival day, leil per- 
haps there should be a tumult eimong the people. 

339 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



And when Jesus was in Bethania, in the house 
of Simon the leper, 

There came to Him a woman having an alaba^er 
box of precious ointment, and poured it on His head 
as He was at table. 

And the disciples seeing it, had indignation, say- 
ing: To what purpose is this wa^e? 

For this might have been sold for much, and 
given to the poor. 

And Jesus knowing it said to them : Why do you 
trouble this woman? for she hath wrought a good 
work upon Me. 

For the poor you have always with you : but Me 
you have not always. 

For she in pouring this ointment upon My body, 
hath done it for My burial. 

Amen I say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached in the whole world, that also which she 
hath done, shall be told for a memory of her. 

Then went one of the twelve, who wets called 
Judas Iscariot, to the chief prie^s. 

And said to them : What will you give me, and 
I will deliver Him unto you? But they appointed 
him thirty pieces of silver. 

And from thenceforth he sought opportunity to 
betray Him. 

And on the fir^ day of the Azjnnes, the disciples 
came to Jesus, saying : Where wilt thou that we pre- 
pare for Thee to eat the pasch ? 

But Jesus said : Go ye into the city to a certain 
man, and say to him : The ma^er saith. My time is 
near at hand, with thee I make the pasch with My 
disciples. 
340 



According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 



And the disciples did as Jesus appointed to them, 
and they prepared the pasch. 

But when it was evening, he sat down with His 
twelve disciples. 

And whil^ they were eating, He Sciid : Amen I 
say to you, that one of you is about to betray Me. 

And they being very much troubled, began every 
one to say : Is it I, Lord ? 

But He answering, said: He that dippeth his 
hand with Me in the dish, he shall betray Me. 

The Son of Man indeed goeth, as it is written of 
him : but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man 
shall be betrayed : it were better for him, if that man 
had not been born. 

And Judcis that betrayed Him, 2mswering, seiid : 
Is it I, Rabbi ? He saith to him : Thou ha^ said it. 

And whil^ they were at supper, Jesus took bread, 
and blessed, and broke: and gave to His disciples, 
and said : Take ye, and eat. This is My body. 

And tcJdng the chalice. He gave thanks, and 
gave to them, saying : Drink ye all of this. 

For this is My blood of the new testament, which 
shall be shed for msiny unto remission of sins. 

And I say to you, I will not drink from henceforth 
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall 
drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father. 

And a hymn being said, they went out unto 
Mount Olivet. 

Then Jesus saith to them : All you shall be scan- 
dalized in Me this night. For it is written: I will 
^ke the shepherd, cuid the sheep of the flock shall 
be dispersed. 

341 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



But after I shall be risen again, I will go before 
you into Galilee. 

And Peter answering, said to him : Although all 
shall be scandalized in Thee, I will never be scandal- 
ized. 

Jesus said to him : Amen I say to thee, that in 
this night before the cock crow, thou wilt deny Me 
thrice. 

Peter saith to Him: Yea, though I should die 
with Thee, I will not deny Thee. And in like manner 
said all the disciples. 

Then Jesus came with them into a country place 
called Gethsemani; and He said to His disciples: Sit 
you here, till I go yonder and pray. 

And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of 
Zebedee, He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. 

Then He said to them: My soul is sorrowful 
even unto death : ^ay you here, and watch with Me. 

And going a little further. He fell upon His face, 
praying, and saying : My Father, if it be possible, let 
this chalice pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt. 

And He cometh to His disciples, and findeth 
them asleep, and He saith to Peter: What? Could 
you not watch one hour with Me ? 

Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temp- 
tation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh weak. 

Again the second time. He went and prayed, 
saying : My Father, if this chalice may not pass away, 
but I mu^ drink it. Thy will be done. 

And He cometh again, and findeth them sleep- 
ing : for their eyes were heavy. 
342 



According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 



And leaving them, He went agciin: and He 
prayed the third time, sajdng the selfsame word. 

Then He cometh to His disciples, and saith to 
them : Sleep ye now and take your re^; behold the 
hour is at hsmd, and the Son of man shall be betrayed 
into the hands of sinners. 

Rise let us go : behold he is at hand that will 
betray Me. 

As He yet spoke, behold Judas, one of the twelve, 
came, and with him a great multitude with swords 
and clubs, sent from the chief prie^s and the ancients 
of the people. 

And he that betrayed Him, gave them a sign 
saying: Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is He, hold 
Him fa^. 

And forthwith coming to Jesus, he said: Hail, 
Rabbi. And he kissed Him. 

And Jesus said to him : Friend, whereto art thou 
come? Then they came up, and laid hands on Jesus, 
and held Him. 

And behold one of them that were with Jesus, 
^retching forth his hand, drew out his sword : and 
^riking the servsmt of the high prie^, cut off his ear. 

Then Jesus saith to him : Put up again thy sword 
into its place : for all that take the sword shall perish 
with the sword. 

Thinke^ thou that I cannot ask My Father, and 
He will give Me presently more than twelve legions 
of angels ? 

How then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that so 
it mu^ be done ? 

In that same hour Jesus said to the multitudes : 

343 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



You are come out as it were to a robber with swords 
and clubs to apprehend Me. I sat daily with you teach- 
ing in the temple, and you laid not hands on Me. 

Now all this was done, that the scriptures of the 
prophets might be fulfilled. Then the disciples all 
leaving Him, fled. 

But they holding Jesus led Him to Caiphas the 
high prie^, where the scribes and the ancients were 
assembled. 

And Peter followed Him afar off, even to the 
court of the high prieil. And going in, he sat with 
the servants, that he might see the end. 

And the chief prie^ and the whole council 
sought false witness again^ Jesus, that they might 
put Him to death: 

And they found not, whereas many false witnesses 
had come in. And la^ of all there came two false 
witnesses : 

And they said: This man said, I am able to 
de^roy the temple of God, and after three days to 
rebuild it. 

And the high prie^ rising up, said to Him : An- 
swered Thou nothing to the things which these wit- 
ness againd Thee? 

But Jesus held His peace. And the high pried 
said to Him : I adjure Thee by the living God, that 
Thou tell us if Thou be the Chrid the Son of God. 

Jesus saith to him : Thou had said it. Never- 
theless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son 
of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, 
and coming in the clouds of heaven. 

Then the high pried rent His garments, saying : 

344 



According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 



He hath blasphemed; what hirther need have we of 
witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blas- 
phemy : 

What think you ? But they answering, said : He 
is guilty of death, 

Then did they spit in His face, and buffeted 
Him : and others ^ruck His face with the palms of 
their hands, 

Saying : Prophesy unto us, O Chriil, who is he 
that ^ruck Thee ? 

But Peter sat without in the court: and there 
came to him a servant maid, saying : Thou also wail 
with Jesus the Galilean. 

But he denied before them all, saying : I know 
not what thou saye^. 

And as he went out of the gate, another maid 
saw him, and she saith to them that were there ; This 
man also was with Jesus of Nazareth. 

And again he denied with an oath : I know not 
the man. 

And after a little while they came that ^ood by, 
and said to Peter : Surely thou also art one of them; 
for even thy speech doth discover thee. 

Then he began to curse and to swear that he knew 
not the man. And immediately the cock crew. 

And Peter remembered the word of Jesus which 
He had said : Before the cock crow, thou wilt deny 
Me thrice. And going forth, he wept bitterly. 

Chapter xxvii. 
And when morning was come, all the chief prie^s 
and ancients of the people took counsel again^ 
Jesus, that they might put Him to death. 

345 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



And they brought Him bound, and delivered 
Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 

Then Judas, who betrayed Him, seeing that He 
was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the 
thirty pieces of silver to the chief prie^s and ancients. 

Saying: I have sinned in betrajring innocent 
blood. But they said: What is that to us? look thou 
to it. 

And casing down the pieces of silver in the 
temple, he departed; and went and hanged himself 
with an halter. 

But the chief prie^s having taken the pieces of 
silver, said: It is not lawful to put them into the 
corbona, because it is the price of blood. 

And after they had consulted together, they 
bought with them the potter^s field, to be a burying- 
place for Grangers. 

For this cause that field was called Haceldama, 
that is, the field of blood, even to this day. 

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by 
Jeremias the prophet, saying: And they took the 
thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was 
prized, whom they prized of the children of Israel. 

And they gave them unto the potter's field, as 
the Lord appointed to me. 

And Jesus ^ood before the governor, and the 
governor asked Him, saying : Art Thou the king of 
the Jews ? Jesus saith to him : Thou saye^ it. 

And when He was accused by the chief prie^s 
and ancients. He answered nothing. 

Then Pilate saith to Him : Do^ not Thou hear 
how great te^imonies they allege again^ Thee? 
346 



According to the Gospel of St Matthew. 

And He answered him to never a word; so that 
the governor wondered exceedingly. 

Now upon the solemn day the governor was 
accustomed to release to the people one prisoner, 
whom they would. 

And he had then a notorious prisoner, that was 
called Barabbas. 

They therefore being gathered together, Pilate 
said : Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas, 
or Jesus that is called Chri^? 

For he knew that for envy they had delivered 
Him. 

And as he was sitting in the place of judgment, 
his wife sent to him saying : Have thou nothing to do 
with that ju^ man; for I have suffered many things 
this day in a dream because of Him. 

But the chief prices and ancients persuaded the 
people, that they should ask Barabbsis, and make 
Jesus away. 

And the governor answering, said to them: 
Whether will you of the two to be released unto you ? 
But they said, Barabbas. 

Pilate saith to them : What shall I do then with 
Jesus that is called Chri^? They say all : Let Him be 
crucified. 

The governor said to them : Why, what evil hath 
He done ? But they cried out the more, saying : Let 
Him be crucified. 

And Pilate seeing that he prevailed nothing, but 
that rather a tumult weis made; taking water washed 
his hands before the people sajdng : I am innocent of 
the blood of this ju^ man; look you to it. 

347 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



And the whole people answering, said : His blood 
be upon us and upon our children. 

Then he released to them Barabbas, and having 
scourged Jesus delivered Him unto them to be cru- 
cified. 

Then the soldiers of the governor taking Jesus 
into the hall, gathered together unto Him the whole 
band; 

And Gripping Him, they put a scarlet cloak 
about Him. 

And platting a crown of thorns, they put it upon 
His head, and a reed in His right hand. And bowing 
the knee before Him, they mocked Him, saying : Hail, 
king of the Jews. 

And spitting upon Him, they took the reed and 
^ruck His head. 

And after they had mocked Him, they took off 
the cloak from Him, and put on Him His own gar- 
ments, and led Him away to crucify Him. 

And going out; they found a man of Cyrene, 
named Simon; him they forced to tcike up his Cross. 

And they came to the place that is called 
Golgotha, which is, the place of Calvary. 

And they gave Him wine to drink, mingled with 
gall. And when He had ta^ed He would not drink. 

And after they had crucified Him, they divided 
His gcurments, casing lots; that it might be fulfilled 
which was spoken by the prophet, saying: They 
divided my garments among them; and upon my 
ve^ure they cait lots. 

And they sat and watched Him. 

And they put over His head His cause written : 
This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. 
348 



According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 



Then were crucified with Him two thieves : one 
on the right hand, and one on the left. 

And they that passed by, blasphemed Him, 
wagging their heads, 

And saj^ng: Vah, Thou that de^oye^ the 
Temple of God, and in three days do^ rebuild it; 
save Thy own self : if Thou be the Son of God, come 
down from the Cross. 

In like manner also the chief prie^s, with the 
scribes and ancients, mocking, said : 

He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If 
He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down 
from the Cross, and we will believe Him. 

He tru^ed in God; let Him now deliver Him if 
He will have Him; for He said : I am the Son of God. 

And the selfsame thing the thieves also, that 
were crucified with Him, reproached Him with. 

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness 
over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. 

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud 
voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is. 
My God, my God, why ha^ Thou forsaken Me? 

And some that ^ood there and heard, said: 
This man calleth Elias. 

And immediately one of them running took a 
sponge, and filled it with vinegar; and put it on a 
reed, £md gave Him to drink. 

And the others said : Let be, let us see whether 
Elias will come to deliver Him. 

And Jesus again crying with a loud voice, 
yielded up the gho^. 

And behold the veil of the Temple was rent in 

349 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



two from the top even to the bottom, and the earth 
quaked, and the rocks were rent. 

And the graves were opened : and many bodies 
of the saints that had slept arose. 

And coming out of the tombs after His resurrec- 
tion, came into the holy city and appeared to many. 

Now the centurion and they that were with him 
watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and the 
things that were done, were sore afraid, saying: 
Indeed this was the Son of God. 

And there were there many women afar off, who 
had followed Jesus from Galilee, mini^ering unto 
Him. 

Among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary 
the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of 
the sons of Zebedee. 

And when it was evening, there came a certain rich 
man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself 
Wcis a disciple of Jesus. 

He went to Pilate and asked the body of Jesus. 
Then Pilate commanded that the body should be 
delivered. 

And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a 
clean linen cloth. 

And laid it in his own new monument, which he 
had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great 
itone to the door of the monument, and went his way. 

And there was there Mary Magdalen, and the 
other Mary sitting over again^ the sepulchre. 

And the next day, which followed the day of 
preparation, the chief prie^s and the Pharisees came 
together to Pilate, 
350 



According to the Gospel of St. Matthew. 

Sajdng : Sir, we have remembered, that that se- 
ducer said, while He was yet alive : After three days 
I will rise again, 

Command therefore the sepulchre to be guarded 
until the third day : le^ perhaps His disciples come 
and ^eal Him away, and say to the people : He is 
risen from the dead; and the la^ error shall be worse 
than the fir^. 

Pilate saith to them: You have a guard: go, 
guard it as you know. 

And they departing, made the sepulchre sure, 
sealing the ^one, and setting the guards. 



351 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



For Tuesday of Holy Week. 

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 

Chapter xiv. 

Now the fea^ of the pasch, and of the Azymes 
was after two days; and the chief prie^ and the 
scribes sought how they might by some wile lay hold 
on Him, and kill Him. 

But they said : Not on the f e^ival day, leil there 
should be a tumult among the people. 

And when He was in Bethania, in the house of 
Simon the leper, and was at meat, there came a 
woman having an alaba^er box of ointment of pre- 
cious spikenard : and breaking the alaba^er box, 
she poured it out upon His head. 

Now there were some that had indignation within 
themselves, and said: Why was this wa^e of the 
ointment made ? 

For this ointment might have been sold for more 
than three hundred pence, and given to the poor. 
And they murmured again^ her. 

But Jesus said : Let her alone, why do you mole^ 
her? She hath wrought a good work upon Me. 

For the poor you have always with you: and 
whensoever you will, you may do them good; but Me 
you have not always. 

She hath done what she could : she is come be- 
forehand to anoint My body for the burial. 

Amen, 1 say to you, wheresoever this gospel shall 
be preached in the whole world, that also which she 
hath done, shall be told for a memorial of her. 
352 



According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 



And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to 
the chief prie^, to betray Him to them. 

Who hearing it were glad; and they promised 
him they would give him money. And he sought 
how he might conveniently betray Him. 

Now on the firil day of the unleavened bread, 
when they sacrificed the psisch, the disciples say to 
Him : Whither wilt Thou that we go, and prepare for 
Thee to eat the pasch? 

And He sendeth two of His disciples, and saith 
to them : Go ye into the city; and there shall meet 
you a man carrying a pitcher of water, follow him; 

And whithersoever he shall go in, say to the 
ma^er of the house : The ma^er saith : Where is My 
refedlory, where I may eat the pasch with My disci- 
ples? 

And he will shew you a large dining room fur- 
nished; and there prepare ye for us. 

And His disciples went their way, ajid came into 
the city; and they found as He had told them, and 
they prepared the pasch. 

And when evening was come. He cometh with 
the twelve. 

And when they were at table eating, Jesus saith : 
Amen I say to you, one of you that eateth with Me 
shall betray Me. 

But they began to be sorrowful, and to say to 
Him one by one : Is it I ? 

Who saith to them : One of the twelve, who dip- 
peth with Me his hand in the dish : 

And the Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written 
of Him ; but woe to that man by whom the Son of 

353 

23 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



man shall be betrayed. It were better for him, if that 
man had not been born. 

And whil^ they were eating, Jesus took bread; 
and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said : Take 
ye. This is My body. 

And having taken the chalice, giving thanks. He 
gave it to them. And they all drank of it. 

And He said to them : This is My blood of the 
new te^ament, v/hich shall be shed for many. 

Amen I say to you, that I will drink no more of 
the fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink 
it new in the kingdom of God. 

And when they had said an hymn, they went 
forth to the Mount of Olives. 

And Jesus saith to them : You will all be scandal- 
ized in My regard this night; for it is written, I will 
^rike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be dispersed. 

But after I shall be risen again, I will go before 
you into Galilee. 

But Peter saith to Him: Although all shall be 
scandalized in Thee, yet not I. 

And Jesus saith to him : Amen 1 say to thee, to- 
day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, 
thou shalt deny Me thrice. 

But he spoke the more vehemently : Although I 
should die together with Thee, I will not deny Thee, 
And in like manner also said they all. 

And they came to a farm called Gethsemani. 
And He saith to His disciples : Sit you here, while I 
pray. 

And He taketh Peter and James and John with 
Him; and He began to fear and to be heavy. 
354 



According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 

And He saith to them : My soul is sorrowful 
even unto death; itay you here, and watch. 

And when He was gone forward a little, He fell 
flat on the ground; and He prayed, that if it might 
be, the hour might pass from Him. 

And He saith : Abba, Father, all things are possi- 
ble to Thee, remove this chalice from Me; but not 
what I will, but what Thou wilt. 

And He cometh, cmd findeth them sleeping. And 
He saith to Peter: Simon, sleepe^ thou? could^ 
thou not watch one hour? 

Watch ye, and pray that you enter not into 
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh 
is weak. 

And going away again. He prayed, saying the 
same words. 

And when He returned. He found them again 
asleep, (for their eyes were heavy,) and they knew 
not what to answer Him. 

And He cometh the third time and saith to 
them : Sleep ye now, and take your re^. It is enough : 
the hour is come : behold the Son of man shall be 
betrayed into the hands of sinners. 

Rise up, let us go. Behold, he that will betray 
Me is at hand. 

And while He was yet speaking, cometh Judas 
Iscariot, one of the twelve: and with him a great 
multitude with swords and ^aves, from the chief 
prie^s and the scribes and the ancients. 

And he that betrayed Him had given them a 
sign, saying : Whomsoever I shall kiss, that is He, 
lay hold on Him, and lead Him away carefully. 

355 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSt. 



And when He was come, immediately going up 
to Him, he saith : Hail, Rabbi; and he kissed Him. 

But they laid hands on Him, and held Him. 

And one of them that ^ood by, drawing a sword, 
^ruck a servant of the chief prie^, and cut off his ear. 

And Jesus answering, said to them: Are you 
come out as to a robber, with swords and ^aves to 
apprehend Me? 

I was daily with you in the Temple teaching, and 
you did not lay hands on Me. But that the scriptures 
may be fulfilled. 

Then His disciples leaving Him, all fled away. 

And a certain young man followed Him, having 
a linen cloth ca^ about his naked body; and they laid 
hold on him. 

But he, casing off the linen cloth, fled from them 
naked. 

And they brought Jesus to the high prie^; and 
all the prie^s and the scribes and the ancients assem- 
bled together. 

And Peter followed Him afar off, even into the 
court of the high prie^; and he sat with the servants 
at the fire, and Wcumed himself. 

And the chief prices and all the council sought 
for evidence again^ Jesus, that they might put Him 
to death, and found none. 

For many bore false witness again^ Him, and 
their evidences were not agreeing 

And some rising up, bore false witness again^ 
Him, saying: 

We heard Him say, I will destroy this Temple 
made with hands, and within three days I will build 
another not made with hands. 
356 



According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 



And their witness did not agree. 

And the high prie^ rising up in the mid^, asked 
Jesus, saying : Answereil thou nothing to the things 
that are laid to thy charge by these men? 

But He held His peace, and answered nothing. 
Again the high prie^ asked Him, and said to Him: 
Art Thou the Chri^ the Son of the blessed God ? 

And Jesus said to him: I am. And you shall 
see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the 
power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. 

Then the high prie^ rending his garments, saith : 
What need we any further witnesses? 

You have heard the blasphemy. What think 
you ? Who all condemned Him to be guilty of death. 

And some began to spit on Him, and to cover 
His face, and to buffet Him, and to say unto Him : 
Prophesy: and the servants ^ruck Him with the 
palms of their hands. 

Now when Peter was in the court below, there 
Cometh one of the maidservants of the high prie^. 

And when she had seen Peter warming himself, 
looking on him she saith : Thou also wa^ with Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

But he denied, saying: I neither know nor 
underhand what thou saye^. And he went forth 
before the court; and the cock crew. 

And again a maidservant seeing him, began to 
say to the Zanders by : This is one of them. 

But he denied again. And after a while they 
that ^ood by said again to Peter : Surely thou art 
one of them; for thou art also a Galilean. 

But he began to curse and to swear, saying ; I 

357 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



know not this man of whom you speak. 

And immediately the cock crew again. And 
Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said unto 
him : Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt thrice 
deny Me. And He began to weep. 

Chapter xv. 

And ^raightway in the morning the chief prie^s 
holding a consultation with the ancients and the 
scribes and the whole council, binding Jesus, led Him 
away, and delivered Him to Pilate. 

And Pilate asked Him : Art Thou the king of the 
Jews ? But He answering, saith to him : Thou sav- 
e^ it. 

And the chief prie^s accused Him in many things. 

And Pilate again asked Him, saying : Answered 
Thou nothing? behold in how many things they ac- 
cuse Thee. 

But Jesus ^ill answered nothing; so that Pilate 
wondered. 

Now on the fe^ival day he was wont to release 
unto them one of the prisoners, whomsoever they 
demanded. 

And there was one called Barabbas, who was 
put in prison with some seditious men, who in the 
sedition had committed murder. 

And when the multitude was come up, they 
began to desire that he would do as he had ever 
done unto them. 

And Pilate answered them, and said : Will you 
that I release to you the king of the Jews ? 

For he knew that the chief prie^ had delivered 
Him up out of envy. 
358 



According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 



But the chief prieils moved the people, that he 
should rather release Beirabbas to them. 

And Pilate again answering, seiith to them: 
What will you then that I do to the king of the Jews? 

But they again cried out : Crucify Him. 

And Pilate saith to them : Why, what evil hath 
He done ? But they cried out the more : Crucify Him. 

And so Pilate being willing to satisfy the people, 
released to them Barabbas, and delivered up Jesus, 
when he had scourged Him, to be crucified. 

And the soldiers led Him away into the court of 
the palace, and they called together the whole bcind : 

And they clothed Him with purple, and platting 
a crown of thorns, they put it upon Him. 

And they began to salute Him : Hail, king of the 
Jews. 

And they ^ruck His head with a reed : And they 
did spit on Him. And bowing their knees, they 
adored Him. 

And after they had mocked Him, they took off 
the purple from Him, and put His own garments on 
Him, and they led Him out to crucify Him. 

And they forced one Simon a Cyrenian who 
passed by, coming out of the country, the father of 
Alexander and of Rufus to tcike up His Cross. 

And they bring Him into the place cdled Golgo- 
tha, which being interpreted is, The place of Calvary. 

And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with 
myrrh; but He took it not. 

And crucif3ring Him, they divided His garments, 
casing lots upon them, what every man should take. 

And it was the third hour, and they crucified 
Him. 

359 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



And the inscription of His cause was written 
over : The King of the Jews. 

And with Him they crucified two thieves, the one 
on His right hand, and the other on His left. 

And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith: 
And with the wicked He was reputed. 

And they that passed by blasphemed Him, wag- 
ging their heads, and saying : Vah, Thou that de^roy- 
e^ the Temple of God, and in three days builde^ it 
up again : 

Save Thyself, coming down from the Cross. 

In like manner also the chief prie^s mocking, 
said with the scribes one to another: He saved others; 
Himself He cannot save. 

Let Chri,^ the king of Israel come down now 
from the Cross, that we may see and believe. And 
they that were crucified with Him, reviled Him. 

And when the sixth hour was come, there was 
darkness over the whole earth until the ninth hour. 

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a 
loud voice, saying: Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabadlhani? 
Which is, being interpreted. My God, My God, why 
ha^ Thou forsaken Me ? 

And some of the Zanders by hearing, said : Be- 
hold He calleth Elias. 

And one running and filling a sponge with vine- 
gar, and putting it upon a reed, gave Him to drink, 
saying : Stay, let us see if Elias come to take Him 
down. 

And Jesus having cried out with a loud voice, 
gave up the gho^. 

And the veil of the Temple was rent in two, from 
the top to the bottom. 
360 



According to the Gospel of St. Mark. 

And the centurion who ^ood over again^ Him, 
seeing that crying out in this manner He had given 
up the gho^, said : Indeed this man was the Son of 
God. 

And there were also women looking on afar off: 
among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the 
mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome : 

Who also when he was in Galilee, followed Him, 
and miniilered to Him, and many other women that 
came up with Him to Jerusalem. 

And when evening was now come, (because it 
was the Parasceve, that is, the day before the Sab- 
bath), 

Joseph of Arimathea, a noble counselor, who 
was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, 
came and went in boldly to Pilate, and begged the 
body of Jesus. 

But Pilate wondered that He should be already 
dead. And sending for the centurion, he asked him 
if He were already dead. 

And when he had underwood it by the centurion, 
he gave the body to Joseph. 

And Joseph buying fine linen, and taking Him 
down, wrapped Him up in the fine linen, and laid 
Him in a sepulchre which was hewed out of a rock. 
And he rolled a ^one to the door of the sepulchre. 

And Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of 
Joseph, beheld were He was laid. 



361 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 



For Wednesday of Holy Week. 

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
According to the Gospel of St. Luke. 

Chapter xxii. 

Now the f ea^ of unleavened bread, which is called 
the pcisch, was at hand. 

And the chief prie^ and the scribes sought how 
they might put Jesus to death : but they feared the 
people. 

And Satan entered into Judas, who was sur- 
named Iscariot, one of the twelve. 

And he went, and discoursed with the chief 
prie^ and the magi^rates, how he might betray Him 
to them. 

And they were glad, and covenanted to give 
him money. 

And he promised. And he sought opportunity 
to betray Him in the absence of the multitude. 

And the day of the unleavened bread came, on 
which it was necessary that the pasch should be 
killed. 

And He sent Peter and John, saying : Go, and 
prepare for us the pasch, that we may eat. 

But they said: Where wilt Thou that we pre- 
pare? 

And He said to them: Behold, as you go into 
the city, there shall meet you a man carrying a 
pitcher of water : follow him into the house where he 
entereth in. 

And you shall say to the goodman of the house : 
The ma^er Scdth to thee : Where is the gue^ cham- 
362 



According to the Gospel of St. Luke. 



ber, where I may eat the pasch with My disciples ? 

And he will shew you a large dining room, hir- 
nished; and there prepare. 

And they going, found as He had said to them, 
and made ready the pasch. 

And when the hour was come. He sat down, and 
the twelve apo^les with Him. 

And He said to them : With desire I have desired 
to eat this pasch with you, before I suffer. 

For I say to you, that from this time I will not eat 
it, till it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 

And having taken the chalice. He gave thanks, 
and said : Take, and divide it among you : 

For I say to you, that I will not drink of the fruit 
of the vine, till the kingdom of God come. 

And taking bread. He gave thanks, and brake; 
and gave to them, saying : This is My body, which is 
given for you. Do this for a commemoration of Me. 

In like manner the chalice also, after He had 
supped, saying: This is the chsJice, the new te^a- 
ment in My blood, which shall be shed for you. 

But yet behold, the hand of him that betrayeth 
Me is with Me on the table. 

And the Son of mein indeed goeth, according to 
that which is determined : but yet, woe to that man 
by whom He shall be betrayed. 

And they began to inquire among themselves, 
which of them it was that should do this thing. 

And there was also a ^rife among^ them, which 
of them should seem to be the greater. 

And He said to them : The kings of the Gentiles 
lord it over them; and they that have power over 
them, are called beneficent 

363 



The Passion of Jesus ChriH. 



But you not so : but he that is the greater among 
you, let him become as the younger; and he that is 
the leader, as he that serveth. 

For which is greater, he that sitteth at table, or 
he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at table? But I 
am in the mid^ of you, as he that serveth : 

And you are they who have continued with Me 
in My temptations : 

And I dispose to you, as My Father hath dis- 
posed to Me, a kingdom; 

That you may eat and drink at My table, in My 
kingdom: and may sit upon thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel. 

And the Lord said : Simon, Simon, behold Satan 
hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as 
wheat : 

But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not : 
and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren. 

Who said to Him : Lord, I am ready to go with 
Thee, both into prison, and to death. 

And He said : I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall 
not crow this day, till thou thrice denieil that thou 
knowe^ Me. And He said to them : 

When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and 
shoes, did you want anything ? 

But they said: Nothing. Then said He unto 
them : But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, 
and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him 
sell his his coat, and buy a sword. 

For I say to you, that this that is written mu^ yet 
be fulfilled in Me: And with the wicked was He 
reckoned. For the things concerning Me have an end. 
364 



According to the Gospel of St Luke. 



But they said : Lord, behold here eire two swords. 
And He said to them : It is enough. 

And going out, He went, according to His cus- 
tom, to the Mount of Olives. And His disciples also 
followed Him. 

And when He was come to the place, He said to 
them : pray, leil ye enter into temptation. 

And He was withdrawn away from them a tone's 
cei^; and kneeling down. He prayed, 

Sajdng : Father, if Thou wilt, remove this chalice 
from Me : but yet not My will, but Thine be done. 

And there appeared to Him an amgel from heav- 
en, ^rengthening Him. And being in an agony. He 
prayed the longer. 

And His sweat became as drops of blood, trick- 
ling down upon the ground. 

And when He rose up from prayer, and was 
come to His disciples. He found them sleeping for 
sorrow. 

And He said to them ; Why sleep you ? arise, 
pray, le^ you enter into temptation. 

As He wcis yet speaking, behold a multitude; and 
he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went 
before them, and drew near to Jesus, for to kiss Him. 

And Jesus said to him : Judas, do^ thou betray 
the Son of man with a kiss. 

And they that were about Him, seeing what 
would follow, Sciid to Him : Lord, shall we ^ke with 
the sword ? 

And one of them ^ruck the servant of the high 
prieit, and cut off his right ear. 

But Jesus answering, said: Suffer ye thus iai. 

365 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



And when He had touched his ear, He healed him. 

And Jesus sedd to the chief prie^, and mzigis- 
trates of the Temple, and the ancients, that were come 
unto Him : Are ye come out, as it were again^ a 
thief, with swords cind clubs ? 

When I was daily with you in the Temple, you 
did not Wretch forth your hands again^ Me : but this 
is your hour, and the power of darkness. 

And apprehending Him, they led Him to the 
high prie^'s house. But Peter followed afar off. 

And when they had kindled a fire in the mid^ 
of the hall, and were sitting about it, Peter was in the 
mid^ of them. 

Whom when a certain servant maid had seen 
sitting at the light, and had earneilly beheld him, she 
said : This man also was with Him. 

But he denied Him, saying: Woman, I know 
Him not. 

And after a little while, another seeing him, said : 
Thou also art one of them. But Peter said : O man, 
I am not. 

And after the space, cis it were of one hour, an- 
other certain man affirmed, saying : Of a truth, this 
man was also with Him; for he is also a Galilean. 

And Peter said ; Man, I know not what thou say- 
e^. And Immediately, as he was yet speaking, the 
cock crew. 

And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And 
Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as He had 
said : Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. 

And Peter going out, wept bitterly. 

And the men that held Him, mocked Him, and 
^ruck Him. 
366 



According to the Gospel of St Luke. 



And they blindfolded Him, and smote His face. 
And they asked Him, saying : Prophesy, who is it that 
^ruck Thee? 

And blaspheming, mzmy other things they said 
againit Him. 

And as soon as it was day, the ancients of the 
people, and the chief prices and scribes came togeth- 
er; and they brought Him into their council, saying : 
If Thou be the Chri^, tell us. 

And He saith to them : If I shall tell you, you 
will not believe me. 

And if I shall also ask you, you will not answer 
Me, nor let Me go. 

But hereafter the Son of man shall be sitting on 
the right hand of the power of God. 

Then said they all : Art Thou then the Son of 
God ? Who said : You say that I am. 

And they said: What need we any further 
te^imony? For we ourselves have heard it from 
His own mouth. 

Chapter xxiii. 

And the whole multitude of them rising up, led 
Him to Pilate. 

And they began to accuse him, saying: We 
have found this man perverting our nation, and 
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that 
He is Chriit the king. 

And Pilate asked Him, saying: Art Thou the 
king of the Jews? But He answering, said: Thou 
sayeil it. 

And Pilate said to the chief prie^ and to the 
multitudes : I find no cause in this man. 

367 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



But they were more earned, saying : He ^irreth 
up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, begin- 
ning hrom Galilee to this place. 

But Pilate hearing Galilee, asked if the man 
were of Galilee? 

And when he underwood that He was of Herod's 
jurisdidlion, he sent Him away to Herod, who was 
also himself at Jerusalem, in those days. 

And Herod seeing Jesus, was very glad; for he 
was desirous of a long time to see Him, because he 
had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to see 
some sign wrought by Him. 

And he que^ioned Him in many words. But 
He answered him nothing. 

And the chief prie^ and the scribes ^ood by, 
earne^ly accusing Him. 

And Herod with his army set Him at nought, 
and mocked Him, putting on Him a white garment, 
and sent Him back to Pilate. 

And Herod and Pilate were made friends, that 
same day; for before they were enemies one to an- 
other. 

And Pilate, calling together the chief prie^s, and 
the magi^rates, and the people. 

Said to them : You have presented unto me this 
man, as one that perverteth the people; and behold 
I, having examined Him before you, find no cause in 
this man, in those things wherein you accuse Him. 

No, nor Herod neither. For I sent you to him, 
and behold, nothing worthy of death is done to Him. 

I will cha^ise Him therefore, and release Him. 

Now of necessity he was to release unto them 
one upon the fea^ day. 
368 



According to the Gospel of St. Luke. 



But the whole multitude together cried out, 
saying: Away with this man, and release unto us 
Bzirabbas : 

Who, for a certain sedition made in the city, and 
for a murder, was ca^ into prison. 

And Pilate again spoke to them, desiring to re- 
lecise Jesus. 

But they cried again, saying: Crucify Him, cru- 
cify Kim. 

And he said to them the third time : Why, what 
evil hath this man done? I find no cause of death in 
Him. I will cha^ise Him therefore, and let Him go. 

But they were infant with loud voices, requiring 
that He might be crucified; and their voices prevailed.. 

And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as; 
they required. 

And he released unto them him who for murder 
and sedition, had been ca^ into prison, whom they 
had desired; but Jesus he delivered up to their will. 

And as they led Him away, they laid hold of one 
Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country; and they 
laid the Cross on him to carry after Jesus. 

And there followed Him a great multitude of 
people, and of women, who bewailed and leunented 
Him. 

But Jesus turning to them, said : Daughters of 
Jerusalem, weep not over Me; but weep for your- 
selves, and for your children. 

For behold, the days shall come, wherein they 
will say : Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that 
have not borne, and the paps that have not given 
suck. 

369 

24 



The Passion of Jesus Christ. 



Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: 
Fall upon us; and to the hills : Cover us. 

For if in the green wood they do these things, 
what shall be done in the dry? 

And there were also two other malefadtors led 
with Him to be put to death. 

And when they were come to the place which is 
called Calvary, they crucified Him there; and the 
robbers, one on the right hand, and the other on the 
left. 

And Jesus said : Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do. But they, dividing His gar- 
ments, ca^ lots. 

And the people ^ood beholding, and the rulers 
with them derided Him, saying : He saved others; let 
Him save Himself, if He be Chri^ the eledl of God. 

And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to 
Him, and offering Him vinegar. 

And saying: If Thou be the king of the Jews 
save Thyself. 

And there was also a superscription written over 
Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew: This 
is the King of the Jews. 

And one of those robbers who were hanged, 
blasphemed Him, saying: If Thou be Chri^, save 
Thyself and us. 

But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: 
Neither do^ thou fear God, seeing thou art under the 
same condemnation. 

And we indeed ju^ly, for we receive the due re- 
ward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. 
370 



According to the Gospel of St. Luke. 



And he said to Jesus : Lord remember me when 
Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom. 

And Jesus said to him : Amen I say to thee, this 
day thou shalt be with Me in paradise. 

And it was almo^ the sixth hour; and there was 
darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 

And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the 
Temple was rent in the mid^. 

And Jesus crying with a loud voice, said : Father, 
into Thy hands I commend My spirit. And saying 
this, He gave up the gho^. 

Now the centurion, seeing what was done, glori- 
fied God, saying : Indeed this was a ju^ man. 

And all the multitude of them that were come 
together to that sight, and saw the things that were 
done, returned ^riking their breads. 

And all His acquaintance, and the women that 
had followed Him from Galilee, ^ood afar off, be- 
holding these things. 

And behold there was a man named Joseph, who 
W21S a counselor, a good and a juit man, 

(The Scime had not consented to their counsel 
and doings;) of Arimathea, a city of Judea; who also 
himself looked for the kingdom of God. 

This man went to Pilate, and begged the body 
of Jesus. 

And taking Him down, he wrapped Him in fine 
linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre that was hewed in 
^one, wherein never yet any man had been laid. 

And it was the day of the parasceve, and the 
sabbath drew on. 

371 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl, 



And the women that were come with Him from 
Galilee, following soon after, saw the sepulchre, and 
how His body was laid. 

And returning, they prepared spices and oint- 
ments; and on the sabbath day they reeled, according 
to the commandment 



Prayer for Good Friday. 

V. Chri^ became obedient for us unto death, 
even the death of the Cross. 

PRAYER. 

Look down, we beseech Thee, O Lord, upon this 
Thy family, for which Our Lord Jesus Christ did not 
hesitate to be delivered up to the hands of the wicked, 
and to undergo the torments of the Cross. Who 
liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen. 



372 



According to the Gospel of St. John. 



For Good Friday. 

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ 
According to the Gospel of St. John. 

Chapter xviii. 

When Jesus had said these things, He went forth 
with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where there 
was a garden, into which He entered with His disci- 
ples. 

And Judas also, who betrayed Him, knew the 
place; because Jesus had often resorted thither to- 
gether with His disciples. 

Judas therefore having received a bemd of soldiers 
and servants from the chief prieils and the Pheirisees, 
Cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should 
come upon Him, went forth, and said to them : Whom 
seek ye? 

They answered Him : Jesus of Nazsureth. Jesus 
seiith to them : I am He. And Judas cJso, who be- 
trayed Him, ^ood with them. 

. As soon therefore as He had said to them : I am 
He; they went backward, and fell to the ground. 

Again therefore He asked them : Whom seek ye ? 
And they said, Jesus of Ncizareth. 

Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. If 
therefore you seek Me, let these go their way, 

That the word might be fulfilled which He Sciid : 
Of them whom Thou ha^ given Me, I have not lo^ 
€my one. 

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and 

373 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 

^ruck the servant of the high prieit, and cut off his 
right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus. 

Jesus therefore said to Peter: Put up thy sword 
into the scabbard. The chalice which My Father 
hath given Me, shall I not drink it? 

Then the band and the tribune, and the servants 
of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound Him : 

And they led Him away to Annas firil, for he was 
father-in-law to Caiphas who was the high prie^ of 
that year. 

Now Caiphas was he who had given the counsel 
to the Jews: That it was expedient that one man 
should die for the people. 

And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did 
another disciple. And that disciple was known to 
the high prie^, and went in with Jesus into the court 
of the high prie^. 

But Peter ^ood at the door without. The other 
disciple therefore, who was known to the high prie^, 
went out, and spoke to the portress, and brought in 
Peter. 

The maid therefore that was portress, saith to 
Peter : Art not thou also one of this Man's disciples ? 
He saith : I am not. 

Now the servants and minivers ^ood at a fire of 
coals, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. 
And with them was Peter also, landing, and warm- 
ing himself. 

The high prie^ therefore asked Jesus of His dis- 
ciples, and of His dodlrine. 

Jesus answered him : I have spoken openly to 
the world : I have always taught in the synagogue, 
374 



According to the Gospel of St John. 

and in the Temple, whither all the Jews resort; and 
in secret I have spoken nothing. 

Why askesl thou Me ? ask them who have heard 
what I have spoken unto them : behold they know 
what things I have said. 

And when He had said these things, one of the 
servants landing by, gave Jesus a blow, sajring: 
Answereil thou the high prie^ so ? 

Jesus answered him : If I have spoken evil, give 
te^imony of the evil; but if well, why ^rike^ thou Me? 

And Annas sent Him bound to Caiphas the high 
prie^. 

And Simon Peter was landing, and warming 
himself. They said therefore to him : Art not thou 
also one of His disciples ? He denied it, and said : I 
am not. 

One of the servants of the high prie^ (a kinsman 
to him whose ear Peter cut off) saith to him: Did 
not I see thee in the garden with Him? 

Again therefore Peter denied; and immediately 
the cock crew. 

Then they led Jesus from Caiphas to the govern- 
or's hall. And it was morning; and they went not 
' into the hall, that they might not be defiled, but that 
they might eat the pasch. 

Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: 
What accusation bring you again^ this man ? 

They answered, and said to him: If He were 
not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him 
up to thee. 

Pilate therefore said to them : Tcike Him you, 
and judge Him according to your law. The Jews 

375 



The Passion of Jesus Chri§l. 

therefore said to him : It is not lawhil for us to put 
any man to death; 

That the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which 
He said, signifying what death He should die. 

Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and 
called Jesus, and said to Him : Art thou the king of 
the Jews ? 

Jesus answered : Saye^ thou this thing of thyself, 
or have others told it thee of Me ? 

Pilate ansv/ered : Am I a Jew ? Thy own nation, 
and the chief prie^s, have delivered Thee up to me : 
what hciil Thou done ? 

Jesus answered : My kingdom is not of this world. 
If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would 
certciinly ^rive that I should not be delivered to the 
Jews : but now My kingdom is not from hence. 

Pilate therefore said to Him: Art Thou a king 
then? Jesus ansv/ered: Thou saye^ that I am a king. 
For this was I born, and for this came I into the 
world; that I should give teilimony to the truth. Every 
one that is of the truth, heareth My voice. 

Pilate saith to Him : What is truth ? And when 
he said this, he went out again to the Jews, and saith 
to them : I find no cause in Him. 

But you have a cu^om that I should release one 
unto you at the pasch : will you, therefore, that I re- 
lease unto you the king of the Jews ? 

Then cried they all again, saying : Not this man, 
but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. 



376 



According to the Gospel of St. John. 



Chapter xix. 

Then therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged 
Him. 

And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put 
it upon His head; and they put on Him a purple 
garment. 

And they ceime to Him, and said : Hail, king of 
the Jews; and they gave Him blows. 

Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to 
them : Behold, I bring Him forth unto you, that you 
may know that I find no cause in Him. 

(Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown 
of thorns and the purple garment). And he saith to 
them : Behold the Man. 

When the chief prie^s, therefore, and the ser- 
vants, had seen Him, they cried out, saying : Crucify 
Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith to them : Take Him 
you, and crucify Him : for I find no cause in Him. 

The Jews answered him : We have a law; and 
according to the law He ought to die, because He 
made Himself the Son of God. 

When Pilate therefore had heard this saying, he 
feared the more. 

And he entered into the hall again, and he said 
to Jesus : Whence art Thou ? But Jesus gave him no 
answer. 

Pilate therefore saith to Him: Speaker Thou 
not to me? knowe^ Thou not that I have power to 
crucify Thee, and I have power to release Thee ? 

Jesus answered: Thou should^ not have any 
power again^ Me, unless it were given thee from 

377 



The Passion of Jesus ChriSl. 



above. Therefore, he that hath delivered Me to thee, 
hath the greater sin. 

And from henceforth Pilate sought to release 
Him. But the Jews cried out, saying : If thou release 
this man, thou art not Caesar's friend. For whoso- 
ever maketh himself a king, speaketh again^ Caesar. 

Now when Pilate had heard these words, he 
brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment 
seat, in the place that is called Litho^rotos, and in 
Hebrew Gabbatha. 

And it was the parasceve of the pasch, about the 
sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews: Behold your 
king. 

But they cried out : Away with Him; away with 
Him; crucify Him. Pilate saith to them: Shall I 
crucify your king? The chief prie^s answered: We 
have no king but Caesar. 

Then therefore he delivered Him to them to be 
crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him forth. 

And bearing His own cross, He went forth to that 
place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgo- 
tha. 

Where they crucified Him, and with Him two 
others, one on each side, and Jesus in the mid^. 

And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon 
the Cross. And the writing was : Jesus of Nazareth, 
the King of the Jews. 

This title therefore many of the Jews did read : 
because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh 
to the city : and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, 
and in Latin. 

Then the chief prie^s of the Jews said to Pilate : 

378 



According to the Gospel of St. John. 



Write not The King of the Jews; but that He said, I 
am the King of the Jews. 

Pilate answered: What I have written, I have 
written. 

The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified 
Him, took His garments, (and they made four parts, 
to every soldier a part,) and also His coat. Now the 
coat was without seam, woven from the top through- 
out. 

They said then one to another : Let us not cut 
it, but let us ca^ lots for it, whose it shall be; that the 
scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have 
parted My garments among them, and upon My ve^- 
ure they have ca^ lots. And the soldiers indeed did 
these things. 

Now there ^ood by the Cross of Jesus, His 
mother, and His mother's si^er, Mary of Cleophas, 
and Mary Magdalen. 

When Jesus therefore had seen His mother and 
the disciple landing whom He loved, He saith to 
His mother : Woman, behold thy son. 

After that He saith to the disciple : Behold thy 
mother. And from that hour the disciple took her 
to his own. 

Afterward, Jesus knowing that all things were 
now accomplished, that the scripture might be ful- 
filled, said : I thir^. 

Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. 
And they, putting a sponge full of vinegeir about 
hyssop, put it to His mouth. 

Jesus therefore, when He had taken the vinegar, 

379 



The Passion of Jesus CfiriS. 



said : It is consummated. And bowing His head, He 
gave up the gho^. 

Then the Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) 
that the bodies might not remain upon the Cross on 
the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) 
besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and 
that they might be taken away. 

The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the 
legs of the fir^, and of the other that was crucified 
with Him. 

But after they were come to Jesus, when they 
saw that He was already dead, they did not break 
His legs. 

But one of the soldiers with a spear opened His 
side, and immediately there Ccime out blood and 
water. 

And he that saw it, hath given te^imony; and 
his te^imony is true. And he knoweth that he saith 
true; that you also may believe. 

For these things were done, that the scripture 
might be fulfilled : You shall not break a bone of Him. 

And again another scripture saith: They shall 
look on him whom they pierced. 

And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea ( be- 
cause he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear 
of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away 
the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came 
therefore, and took away the body of Jesus. 

And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the fir^ 
came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh 
and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 

They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound 

380 



According to the Gospel of St. John. 

it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of 
the Jews is to bury. 

Now there was in the place where He Wcis cruci- 
fied, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, 
wherein no man yet had been laid. 

There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the 
Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh 
at hand. 



"God so loved the world, as to 
give His only-begotten Son : that 
whosoever believeth in Him, may 
not perish, but may have life ever- 
lasting" (John iii. 16). 



381 



J 

1 



] 

J 

I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




010j119 604 5 m 



